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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28072911">If The World Could Stand Still</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adaven/pseuds/Adaven'>Adaven</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A hero and his nemesis end up being roommates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, And definitely have a thing for each other, Bokuto Koutarou &amp; Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, CAPTAIN SQUAD, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hero!Iwaizumi, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, If only they could get over what happened years ago, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Iwaizumi Hajime Swears, Iwaizumi Hajime is Bad at Feelings, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Angst, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru-centric, Kuroo Tetsurou &amp; Oikawa Tooru Friendship, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, Long-Suffering Sawamura Daichi, M/M, Minor Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru, Misunderstandings, Mostly because the Author is Bad At Flirting, Oblivious Ushijima Wakatoshi, Oikawa Tooru is Bad at Feelings, Oikawa Tooru is Bad at Flirting, POV Iwaizumi Hajime, POV Oikawa Tooru, Past Child Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Pining Oikawa Tooru, Protective Iwaizumi Hajime, Protective Oikawa Tooru, Sad Oikawa Tooru, Sawamura Daichi's Thighs, Secret Identity, Slow Burn, To bad they are also childhood friends, Villain!Oikawa, minor underage drinking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:47:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>33,914</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28072911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adaven/pseuds/Adaven</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Painfully familiar green eyes stared at him from across the hall. For a moment, Oikawa felt like he was dreaming, like one of those nightmares that’d leave him waking up in a cold sweat even as he mourned losing them to the daylight. Why was Iwaizumi here? And why did he have to be Oikawa’s new roommate?</p><p>“Hi, I’m Daichi,” the words broke him out of the green-eyed spell he’d been under, Iwaizumi looking away.</p><p>“Iwaizumi,” he bowed his head in greeting, eyes sliding back to a still frozen Oikawa. Daichi shifted next to him, shoulder gently bumping into his. </p><p>“Do you two know each other?”</p><p>“We’re childhood best-”</p><p>“Yeah, we used to live near each other,” Oikawa cut Iwaizumi off, ignoring the frown his words earned. It wasn’t a lie and it’d been too long for them to still consider themselves best friends. Even if Oikawa’s heart ached at the thought.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akaashi Keiji &amp; Iwaizumi Hajime, Akaashi Keiji &amp; Oikawa Tooru, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou &amp; Iwaizumi Hajime, Bokuto Koutarou &amp; Kuroo Tetsurou, Bokuto Koutarou &amp; Kuroo Tetsurou &amp; Oikawa Tooru &amp; Sawamura Daichi &amp; Ushijima Wakatoshi, Bokuto Koutarou &amp; Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime &amp; Kuroo Tetsurou, Iwaizumi Hajime &amp; Sawamura Daichi, Iwaizumi Hajime &amp; Ushijima Wakatoshi, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Kuroo Tetsurou &amp; Oikawa Tooru, Oikawa Tooru &amp; Sawamura Daichi, Oikawa Tooru &amp; Sugawara Koushi, Oikawa Tooru &amp; Ushijima Wakatoshi, Sawamura Daichi &amp; Sugawara Koushi, Sawamura Daichi/Ushijima Wakatoshi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>114</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Meeting Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023598">Bad Guys can be Good Guys</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kono_Rohan_Da/pseuds/Kono_Rohan_Da">Kono_Rohan_Da</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey everyone! This idea came to me while I was trying to procrastinate studying for finals. I've wanted to write something for IwaOi for a while, since they are two of my favorite characters, and then this idea sparked. So here we are! I hope you all enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you meet again. And meeting again, after moments or a lifetime is certain for those who are friends.” - Richard Bach</p><hr/><p><em>“</em> <em>Iwa-chan?” </em></p><p>
  <em> “Yeah, Tooru?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Why does the sun have to rise?” </em>
</p><hr/><p>Rain drizzled from a dreary sky, splattering against the foggy window panes. Oikawa’s head lolled against the slightly chilled glass, his eyes flickering open as the last tendrils of sleep slipped away. A fuzzy haze still clouded his mind, the hour-long bus nap not nearly enough to make up for two sleepless nights. He groaned and pushed himself upright, shuffling his feet until they hit the duffle bag on the ground. </p><p>It wasn’t like he’d meant to stay up for so long. How could he have known a new hero would move into town? And the bastard had been such a pain too…</p><p>Oikawa huffed and pulled out his phone, swiping through the series of texts and social media updates in his notification bar. Clicking on the one from Kuroo, Oikawa leaned his head back against the glass, ignoring the way his ribs ached.</p><p>
  <b>[Kuroo:] Sure ya dont need me to come today? You took a beating last night so I wouldnt mind helping you move your stuff in</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Oikawa:] I know better than to let your mangey paws get on my stuff</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Oikawa:] I lost two hats last time! Two!</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Kuroo:] You said you didnt like them!? I was helping, you cant still be mad</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Oikawa:] I can and am. </b>
</p><p>Snapping the phone closed, Oikawa let his eyes slip shut. That alley cat was dumber than he looked if he thought Oikawa would fall for that trick again. They’d been partners in crime for too long for it to still work. Besides, it wasn’t like Kuroo had gotten away from their encounter with Anzen, or whatever he was called, injury-free. </p><p>The damn bastard had already joined up with another hero when he'd confronted their infamous selves in a jewelry shop, ruining two weeks' worth of planning and leaving them both roughed up. The whole incident was made worse because half his injuries were a result of Oikawa getting distracted by how hot the new hero was. It wasn’t fair! </p><p>The bus squealed to a stop, ending any hopes he had of getting more rest. It was a good thing he’d already lost his roommate for the semester so he could crash after getting all his stuff in the dorm. The school had attempted to make him room with someone, something he highly opposed. </p><p>Oikawa didn’t want anyone else sharing his space, especially not the rando the university initially tried to stick him with. One text conversation with the guy and Oikawa was convinced he’d only ever used three-in-one shampoo and body wash. That wasn’t the sort of environment Oikawa needed to be living in, it’d be bad for his skin. </p><p>Plus having a roommate wasn’t exactly conducive to keeping his nightly escapades a secret. </p><p>Convincing his no-longer roommate to request a room switch had been child’s play compared to what he usually convinced people to do. The next two roommates the university had tried to throw at him had been similarly dealt with. Thankfully, they’d stopped trying after the third person requested out within the month since room assignments were sent out. </p><p>Oikawa had already sent most of his items to the dorm and he hefted the one duffle bag he’d brought with him as he stood, waiting his turn to exit the bus. Fresh air from the open doors swirled around him, clearing the mild ache in his head as he breathed in the damp wind. Slipping into the aisle, Oikawa held his duffle close and shuffled off the bus. </p><p>Rain dripped onto his head and a shiver passed up his spine at the chill. It was far colder than it should be for the end of summer. Looking up, Oikawa narrowed his eyes and breathed out, daring any more rain to fall on his perfectly styled hair. </p><p>Naturally, the rain obeyed. </p><p>Campus bustled with activity despite the rain. Students huddled under umbrellas with maps while their mom hovered over their shoulders and their dad held the boxes, slowly getting soaked. He grinned at the girls he passed, catching their reddening faces as he threw them a wink and a wave before carrying on toward his dorm. It never hurt to start the fan club early. The suspicious glares from their fathers made it all the funnier. One last bit of family drama before the child and parent parted ways. </p><p>Coming to a stop outside his new home, Oikawa fished out his phone. Throwing up a peace sign, he smiled and snapped a photo. It needed a filter, but it’d work for today’s Insta post. Typing up a quick caption, Oikawa posted the photo and re-pocketed his phone as he turned back to the stairs. </p><p>A shoulder knocked into him and Oikawa stumbled forward, hissing as it jostled his bruised side but catching himself before he could hit the stairs. The other guy wasn’t so lucky. Books tumbled out of the box he’d been carrying and spilled onto the wet stairs. </p><p>“Sorry!” The other guy said, already scrambling to pick up his fallen items. Rain continued to fall on the books, soaking into their pages despite the guy’s best efforts. Crouching down, Oikawa picked up the books nearest him and let the faint breeze dancing around him ruffle the damp pages. </p><p>“Oh, uh, thanks,” the guy said, coming to a stop in front of Oikawa. He was kneeling on the wet pavement (wasn’t he worried about his pants?) with his unboxed books filling his arms, not an umbrella in sight. Water dripped off his dark brown hair into his matching brown eyes making him look quite similar to the many dads he’d passed on his way here. Instead of handing the books back, Oikawa took a few more off the precarious pile, earning him a confused look which he repaid with a dazzling smile as he stood. </p><p>“Need some help?” he asked as the other guy also got to his feet.</p><p>“Yeah, thanks. I’m Daichi,” the guy bobbed his head in greeting, his own smile lighting up his face. Oikawa tilted his head, eyes taking in the rest of the fairly plain-looking guy.</p><p>“Oikawa.”</p><p>“Thanks, Oikawa, but I can take it from here." He gestured to the books Oikawa was holding. Glancing down at the wet cardboard box on the ground, he raised a brow. He really doubted the guy could handle it all. Well, his mother had always said one good deed would be repaid with another.</p><p>"I'm on the top floor anyway, so I can carry them if you want," he shrugged and readjusted the books so they were easier to hold. Daichi's eyes widened.</p><p>"That's where I'm going too. Maybe we'll live near each other," Daichi grinned and started up the stairs again in lieu of accepting his offer, Oikawa trailing behind him. A drop of rain hit his shoulder, an icy shiver crawling across his skin. Breathing out, Oikawa let a few more drops of rain fall on his clothes, a warm breeze dancing around him to keep out the chill. </p><p>He couldn't exactly walk in completely dry, could he? That’d be suspicious now that someone was paying attention to him. He already regretted offering to help. </p><p>The rain still didn't dare touch his hair. </p><p>“So what’s your major?” Daichi asked as they entered the lobby and made for the elevator. Pushing the button, Oikawa leaned against the wall and shrugged.</p><p>“History, you?” It’d been his best subject in high school, something Kuroo always complained about, and it gave him plenty of time to dedicate to research without people getting suspicious about what he was looking up. Plus, it didn’t require a lot of math classes. Even thinking about that subject made Oikawa shiver.</p><p>“Biology, I want to get into Vet school in a few years,” he smiled and Oikawa realized many of the books they were holding had to do with animal anatomy. Maybe he could convince Daichi to get him some medical supplies. That might make getting his jacket wet worth it.</p><p>The elevator dinged and slid open, both of them shuffling inside along with three other students, pushing Oikawa to the back corner near the window. He watched as the ground slowly fell away, the elevator bringing them higher and higher. They stopped two times before reaching the seventh floor, Daichi and Oikawa stepping out into their new shared hall. </p><p>“What’s your room number?” Oikawa asked. Daichi fumbled for his key, nearly losing several books off the stack.</p><p>“Seven-twenty-nine,” He said, reading off the tag attached to the key and straightening out the pile. Oikawa’s eyes widened.</p><p>“I’m seven-thirty,” they wouldn’t be suitemates he noticed while walking down the hall, odds and evens were on opposite sides, but they’d still be across-the-way neighbors. What a coincidence.</p><p>Their rooms were at the far end of the hall next to the smallest of the three study/recreation rooms on this floor. Oikawa recognized his boxes piled next to the end door on the right. A door that was suspiciously open.</p><p>Kuroo wasn’t moving in until tomorrow and he hadn’t told the alley cat his room number. He could have asked someone for help figuring it out but something in his gut told Oikawa it wasn’t Kuroo he could faintly hear moving around in the room. </p><p>Had the University really given him another roommate? So much for good karma after helping Daichi. </p><p>“Looks like your roommate is already here,” Daichi commented. Oikawa hummed and set the books down next to Daichi’s door. Readjusting the strap of his duffle bag, Oikawa whirled around and came face to face with the absolute last person he’d ever expected to see again.</p><hr/><p>
  <em> “What do you mean?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Why does the sun have to rise? Why can’t we stay out under the stars forever?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Aren’t you afraid of the dark?” </em>
</p><hr/><p>Painfully familiar green eyes stared at him from across the hall. For a moment, Oikawa felt like he was dreaming, like one of those nightmares that’d leave him waking up in a cold sweat even as he mourned losing them to the daylight. Why was Iwaizumi here? And why did he have to be Oikawa’s new roommate?</p><p>“Hi, I’m Daichi,” the words broke him out of the green-eyed spell he’d been under, Iwaizumi looking away.</p><p>“Iwaizumi,” he bowed his head in greeting, eyes sliding back to a still frozen Oikawa. Daichi shifted next to him, shoulder gently bumping into his. </p><p>“Do you two know each other?”</p><p>“We’re childhood best-”</p><p>“Yeah, we used to live near each other,” Oikawa cut Iwaizumi off, ignoring the frown his words caused. It wasn’t a lie and it’d been too long for them to still consider each other their best friend. Even if Oikawa’s heart ached at the thought.</p><p>“Ok-ay, well, I’m going to let you two talk. Thanks again for helping with my books,” Daichi smiled at the both of them and escaped inside his room. That’s all Oikawa wanted to do right now. </p><p>So much for his plan to catch up on sleep. </p><p>Oikawa ignored Iwaizumi and picked up one of his boxes, moving past the other boy to enter his new room. It was decent sized, nothing extravagant. Two twin beds sat against opposite walls, dressers situated at their ends and two desks nestled side-by-side between them in front of the double windows. To the left of the door was a closet and to the right, a sink next to the door leading to the bathroom. </p><p>Iwaizumi’s things were already scattered on the right side of the room, so Oikawa made his way to the left dresser and set his box and duffle on top. He’d have to reevaluate where to put his gear now that he had a roommate. Especially since he didn’t think Iwaizumi would be as easy to run off as the other guys. </p><p>Turning around, Oikawa once again found himself face-to-face with Iwaizumi. His heart leaped to his throat. Two boxes of his stuff were in Iwaizumi’s arms, something Oikawa tried very hard to not look at. He knew his type and he knew who his type was based on. No reason to torture himself. Brushing past Iwaizumi, Oikawa went to pick up the remaining box and bring it inside. </p><p>“Too-” Iwaizumi paused at the glare Oikawa sent him, “Oikawa...how’ve you been?” The question came out rushed like it wasn’t what he really wanted to say. Not like Oikawa cared what he wanted to say, his mere presence was enough to bring back the memories he’d buried long ago. </p><p>It wasn’t fair. Was this karma for his extracurricular activities? Why couldn’t he separate Iwaizumi from those thoughts? Why did it have to hurt looking at him and remembering everything that’d passed?</p><p>“I’ve been great, how about you?” Oikawa said, setting the box next to the sink, a bright and oh so fake smile lighting up his face. The green of Iwaizumi’s eyes dimmed as he easily accepted the lie as truth.</p><p>Oikawa didn’t know if he should be relieved or cry.</p><hr/><p>
  <em> “You make the nighttime safe, Iwa-chan.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “But the sun still needs to rise, Tooru, you know that. Why don’t you want it to?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “It’s not the dark I’m afraid of anymore…” </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Well aren’t you just Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome,” Kaze said, leaning back against a glass case, his masked eyes looking Iwaizumi up and down. In response, Iwaizumi charged him, slamming his shoulder into the other man’s side and sending them both crashing into the case. Iwaizumi landed on top of him, hands quickly moving to pin him down while he lay stunned.</p><p>“Look at you, taking my breath away,” Kaze gasped, pouting. Yes pouting, because apparently that was what feared and infamous Tokyo villains did, before his mouth quirked up in a smirk. “Don’t you know that’s my job?”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all the support you gave the first chapter. I was amazed that so many people seemed to like it! Hopefully, this next chapter is just as enjoyable, I know I had a fun time writing it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone’s hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours.”</p><p>- Vera Nazarian</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>Iwaizumi Hajime age 5 </em>
</p><p>Hajime liked the swings because they were quiet. All the other kids preferred the slides, or the monkey bars, or even the jump ropes. They liked running around with everyone else, screaming and whining and crying when they fell. Hajime wasn’t a fan of the noise. </p><p>On more than one occasion, other kids tried to steal the two-person swing set before he could get to recess. This was never okay. The swings were Hajime’s. </p><p>He made sure they got the message.</p><p>His mom told him he should smile more. His grandpa said his permanent scowl would keep all the girls away. His classmates said he had a scary face. Hajime didn’t care. With one look he could send the swing thieves scattering and that made all their comments irrelevant. Hajime liked his scary face and his swing set and the quiet and he didn’t need anything or anyone else. Other kids were just annoying.</p><p>The new kid more than proved that. </p><p>Oikawa Tooru moved to their school exactly one week ago and he already topped Hajime’s least favorite classmate list. He was loud and obnoxious and annoying and he wouldn’t leave Hajime alone. The worst part was that no one else believed him when he complained about Irritating-kawa. </p><p>“He’s so quiet.” “He’s so polite.” “He’s so cute.” And on and on people just kept saying how great Annoying-kawa was. It wasn’t fair! He started fine enough when introducing himself to their kindergarten class. But then recess rolled around and he was on Hajime’s swing set and no matter how hard he glared Loud-kawa wouldn’t leave. He just kept talking about dumb things like UFOs and weird stars, completely ignoring Hajime’s irritation. </p><p>If he had to be so loud why couldn’t he at least talk about something cool? Like bugs or Godzilla or superheroes. Stuff that actually mattered instead of his stupid aliens that weren’t even real.</p><p>Hajime went home that day frowning more than usual. His mom made him his favorite food, fried tofu, while he complained, smiling and nodding all the while.</p><p>Loud-kawa found him at lunch the next day. </p><p>He found him at morning reading time the day after.</p><p>And he found him before school even started on the fourth day.</p><p>By the end of the week, Hajime was done dealing with him.</p><p>His mom told him he needed to watch his anger. Hajime knew he needed to watch his anger. </p><p>But the other boy was just so annoying, and he was so loud, and he was on Hajime’s swing set again!</p><p>Annoying-kawa swung back and forth, still low to the ground (he was terrible at getting any height), smiling with that stupid too bright smile that promised more endless chatter. Iwaizumi ran toward him.</p><p>Tooru was laying on the ground and Hajime didn’t know how he got there. Huge brown eyes stared up at him, that stupid smile frozen on his face. </p><p>He wasn’t crying. </p><p>Hajime’s gaze was drawn down to the arm twisted weirdly by his side as blood began to run down his skin from the mulch. His own eyes widened and he took a step forward, lowering his hands as he did. Tooru moved like he was going to get up, whimpering when he moved his arm.</p><p>“Ow…” he whispered, so soft Hajime almost missed it. The word reverberated in his head as he stared at Tooru’s face. His smile dimmed, eyebrows drawing together, but his eyes remained fixed on Hajime. </p><p>There should have been fear in his eyes. Hajime knew well enough what it looked like, he could recognize it even at five years old. So why wasn’t it there? Why wasn’t Tooru crying? </p><p>“Tooru!” The teacher called as people ran toward them. </p><p>“Hajime! What did you do?” There was a hand on his shoulder but Hajime didn’t look away. He wanted to see when the fear entered Tooru’s eyes even though he knew he’d start crying the moment it did. His mom told him he needed to watch his anger or he’d end up like his dad. Hajime didn’t want to end up like him. He didn’t want to hurt people like he did.</p><p>He’d still hurt Tooru…</p><p>One of the teachers helped the other boy up, his eyes scrunching closed as he started to cry. The sound rang in Hajime’s empty head.</p><p>They were both led away to different rooms, a teacher scolding Hajime the whole way.</p><p>When his mom arrived at school, Hajime wrapped his arms around her waist and sobbed. </p><p>“I’m sorry momma, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he hiccuped into her shirt as her own arms came up around him and held him close. </p><p>She made him fried tofu again that night but Hajime hardly had the appetite to eat it. When he laid in bed that night, the familiar darkness of his room was more suffocating than usual and all he could think about was how Tooru never once looked at him with fear.</p>
<hr/><p>***</p>
<hr/><p><em> ...this is a notice that your rooming assignment for this semester has been altered. You will now be living in Ittesu Dormitory Room 730. Your roommate is named </em> <b> <em>Tooru Oikawa</em> </b> <em> . We regret to inform you that the contact information of this individual cannot be shared at the current time. If you have any further questions please email or call at… </em></p><p>“Anzen,” a soft voice startled Iwaizumi into looking up from his phone and the name he’d read a thousand times since receiving it two days ago. His temporary partner stared at him from his perch atop the parapet several feet away, eyes narrowed beneath his white hood. Iwaizumi sighed and clicked off his phone, mentally kicking himself for the protocol breach. He knew better than to use his personal phone during a patrol, especially when he was new to the area.</p><p>Snow re-focused on the busy streets below them and Iwaizumi tried to do so as well. But the phone in his pocket seemed to be burning a hole through his shadows and he couldn't help but let his mind wander back to the name. A name he hadn't seen in years. A name he'd long feared never hearing again.</p><p>Tooru.</p><p>For nearly five years Iwaizumi wanted nothing more than to see his best friend again. To talk to the boy who starred in his every dream and ask him how he's been. To apologize for that night.</p><p>Until two days ago, it was a wish he gave to every shooting star he saw, but he could still focus on the other aspects of his life. Like crime-fighting in Miyagi as his hero persona, Anzen. Now, not only was he in an unfamiliar big city for college with a new partner to show him the area, but he couldn't focus on any of it. </p><p>How could he when he'd see Tooru again tomorrow?</p><p>"10-4 we have a suspected burglary in progress. Requesting powered backup. Kaze is confirmed on-scene, no partner has been seen but it's highly probable. Approach with caution." The police radio came to life with a staticky crackle between them, capturing their attention. Iwaizumi took a deep steadying breath.</p><p>"Ready to meet a Tokyo Villain?" Snow asked. Iwaizumi nodded.</p><p>He'd see Tooru tomorrow, but for now, he needed to focus on catching a villain.</p><p>If anything proved just how far from home he was, it was the Villains of Tokyo. Where he usually patrolled in Miyagi, there were only a few recurring criminals he ever had to go up against. Mostly he had to fight petty thieves or low-level gangs where they all looked like normal people. Here though, there was a difference between criminals and villains.</p><p>Oh sure, in Tokyo heroes could stop criminals if they had the chance, but more often their attention was diverted by the abundance of villains. The thieves, murderers, and gang members that consistently slipped out of police custody due to their stronger than average powers. To top it off many villains donned their own costumes, like rude mockeries of heroes, all while calling themselves codenames for the media. </p><p>And they gained followings because of it.</p><p>The whole thing rubbed Iwaizumi wrong when Snow explained the basics, something the other hero seemed to agree with. He was glad he'd been paired up with Snow by the Tokyo Hero Agency. He seemed less inclined to participate in the popularity contest so many Tokyo heroes fought in and more focused on keeping the streets safe. He was a more helpful guide than Iwaizumi expected.</p><p>As they darted across rooftops toward the villain, Snow kept up a low stream of useful information about the fairly infamous Kaze through their comm unit.</p><p>"...don't underestimate him even if he is alone. Kaze has been evading police and heroes since before I started. Even if he mainly sticks to stealing, he has enough power to take down most skilled heroes. Our goal with him is to stop the theft. Catching him is secondary." Snow slid to a stop at the edge of the roof and Iwaizumi hopped up onto the parapet to survey the scene. </p><p>The light in the jewelry shop was on. From his vantage, Iwaizumi could see the bars over the windows and door signifying the shop had been closed prior to Kaze getting there, and three guards tied up on the floor. No sign of Kaze or a partner.</p><p>"Ready?" Snow asked, pulling his mask over his nose, obscuring the rest of his face, and grabbed his bow. Iwaizumi breathed in, gathering the rooftop's shadows around him. Breathing out he felt them solidify over his base uniform, the black shroud lightly smoking. His mask stuck comfortably around his eyes and his right hand curled around a materializing shadow sword.</p><p>"Ready," he said reveling in the light breeze ruffling through his hair. </p><p>Tomorrow he'd see Tooru again. Tonight he'd make the streets a safer place for him.</p>
<hr/><p> To say Kaze was infuriating would be an understatement. From the moment Iwaizumi and Snow entered the building the thief was talking, first to his partner and the guards and then to Iwaizumi and Snow. He’d heard that Kaze liked to distract and rile up his opponents but this was just ridiculous.</p><p>“Well aren’t you Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome,” Kaze said, leaning back against a glass case, his masked eyes looking Iwaizumi up and down. Iwaizumi hated how his cheeks heated up at the villain's words and look. Don't let him get under your skin, he reminded himself. Kaze opened his mouth again and Iwaizumi charged him before he could talk, slamming his shoulder into the other man’s side and sending them both crashing into the case. Iwaizumi landed on top of him, hands quickly moving to pin him down while he lay stunned.</p><p>“Look at you, taking my breath away,” Kaze gasped beneath him, eyes widening as he pouted. Yes pouted, because apparently that was what feared and infamous Tokyo villains did before his mouth quirked up in a dangerous smirk. “Don’t you know that’s my job?” Kaze brought his leg up between them and kicked, landing a solid hit to Iwaizumi’s stomach while also pushing him off with a gust of air. </p><p>Iwaizumi hit the ground hard several feet away, the breath knocked out of him, and immediately stumbled back up. They’d been going back and forth like this for nearly ten minutes and they were no closer to catching the pair. Looking around he saw that Snow had managed to get the three guards out of the way. The distant sound of sirens screaming toward them sent his determination spiking. </p><p>According to Snow, Kaze and his partner, Nebo, always fled the scene once too many police arrived no matter the success of their heist. Kaze staggered to his feet amidst the glass shards of the case. Across the room, Snow was attempting to take down Nebo with a barrage of arrows, the other’s feline agility only protecting him so much against the rapid sharp-shooting. </p><p>They could take them. Iwaizumi knew they could and then two more criminals would be off the streets and the world would be a safer place. He could focus solely on his meeting tomorrow without the distraction of knowing such an annoying pair of villains was out causing havoc. </p><p>“Am I not enough for your full attention?” Kaze said from behind him, slamming his foot into Iwaizumi’s back. Moving with the momentum, Iwaizumi turned, grabbed Kaze’s leg, and threw him into a nearby wall. Iwaizumi hissed as he twisted. That would leave a mark. It’s what he deserved for getting distracted.</p><p>Materializing his shadow sword, Iwaizumi pointed it toward Kaze.</p><p>“You don’t want my full attention,” he said, setting the blade point against the stormy grey cloth over Kaze’s heart. The villain grinned.</p><p>“You have no idea what I want,” there was a hint of danger in his tone that Iwaizumi hadn’t heard before despite all his incessant talking. It set off warning bells in his head and he took the smallest of steps back before he could stop himself. Kaze saw it all and Iwaizumi cursed himself again. Outside, several police cars screeched to a stop.</p><p>“Neboo!” Kaze called lazily at the same time Snow shouted, “Anzen! Watch out!” And a person dropped onto his shoulders, sending Iwaizumi sprawling. </p><p>“Awww this heist took forever to plan and you two ruined it,” Nebo said, his ears twitching toward the street as he twirled his bo-staff in one hand and helped Kaze up with the other. Snow shot an arrow at them, but a blast of wind from Kaze easily deflected it. Kaze shrugged, smiling at the heroes.</p><p>“I don’t know Nebo, I think this was sort of a win. Snow is always so much fun to play with and you, my dark knight, are a delight to look at.” Kaze laughed lightly and unfurled one of his metal fans.</p><p>Iwaizumi got to his knees in time to see Kaze and Nebo making a hasty retreat toward the back door. Nebo seemed to be limping, his tail twitching wildly with every step and Kaze had an arm looped around his neck. They were injured, he and Snow could catch them. Snow appeared at his side, hand outstretched to help him up. Taking the offered hand, Iwaizumi pulled himself to his feet. They could do this.</p><p>Kaze winked beneath his mask, metal fan glinting in the light, and Nebo waved a gloved hand before a hurricane-force gust of wind slammed into Iwaizumi and Snow sending them to the floor. By the time he looked up, the pair was gone.</p><p>Iwaizumi spit out a string of the worst curse words he could think of.</p>
<hr/><p>Sleep that night did not come easily to him. After getting his injuries looked at and helping Snow give a report to the police, Iwaizumi had been ordered to take the rest of the night off and go home. Snow gave him a pat on the shoulder and told him he’d done well, yet Iwaizumi couldn’t believe him. </p><p>He’d let the villains escape.</p><p>Sure, lots of heroes before him had let them escape as well, it's what that particular pair was infuriatingly good at, but still…</p><p>It had been a long time since he’d been around and the bad guy got away. People could get hurt when a hero didn’t catch the villain and it didn’t matter if they were just thieves. All villains had the capacity for murder lurking within and it was his job to keep them away from innocent civilians. </p><p>Iwaizumi buried his head under the pillow at his hotel and groaned. How was he supposed to face Tooru in the morning when he couldn’t even do the one thing he was good at correctly?</p><p>He drifted in and out of sleep with these thoughts, tossing and turning at every sound from outside. The clock read six am when he finally pulled himself from bed, turning off the alarm that wasn’t set to go off for another hour, and hopped in the shower. A nasty bruise was forming on his back, and it twinged every time he twisted, but otherwise, all his injuries from the fight were superficial.</p><p>Stepping out of the shower, Iwaizumi tied a towel around his waist and sat back on his bed, turning on the TV to the local news station. Coverage of their fight with Kaze and Nebo was all over the screen, Anzen’s Tokyo popularity ranking already situated in the top corner next to Snow’s. Apparently, even in a big city, a new hero was cause for gossip. </p><p>His phone dinged and Iwaizumi clicked it open. A message from a blank number sat at the bottom of his short list of notifications. Opening it, Iwaizumi's eyes widened.</p><p>
  <b>[   :] Your phone has been vetted for communication by the THA. For now, I’ll be the only one contacting you this way until your testing period is over. If you have any questions, please let me know. I’m happy to help you however I can. -Snow</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[   :] This method of communication is secure. I cannot get your location or phone number from texting unless you give it to me. Your identity is safe.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[   :] You did well last night. I look forward to working with you again.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Anzen:] Thank you for letting me know. I look forward to working with you in the future as well Snow.</b>
</p><p>He quickly saved Snow's name in his phone, ignoring all the other information sections. Iwaizumi had to admit, he was impressed by the speed the Tokyo Hero Agency worked. It took the Miyagi Agency a week just to get him a list of other heroes working in his area. They certainly couldn't securely text other heroes while in their civilian clothes. This would make keeping up with his hero work much easier while sharing a room with Tooru. </p><p>Iwaizumi zoned out from listening to the news anchor make guesses about his capabilities and grabbed a complimentary notepad and pen from the desk. The hotel was only a fifteen-minute walk to his new dorm and they wouldn’t let people even start moving in until ten. The least he could do in the meantime was recall every detail from last night's encounter, so he could be more prepared when they next met.</p><p>Running every interaction through his head, Iwaizumi had to stop himself from groaning and covering his face at the obscene amount of flirting the villain had done. Sure it was just to aggravate him, but still, it wasn't something he was used to. People mostly left him alone since middle school and the only person to really flirt with him was Tooru. <em>Look at you, taking my breath away...</em>weirdly sounded like the kind of horrible pun Tooru would use if he had a wind power like Kaze.</p><p>Iwaizumi shook his head at the thought. No, Tooru was nothing like Kaze in any manner. Tooru was a good person who loved heroes and knew how much Iwaizumi hated villains. Kaze was a grossly flirtatious thief who stole from others for no good reason. They weren't similar at all, he just had them both on his mind right now.</p><p>Throwing out his disturbing thoughts and deciding to not focus on Kaze's flirting anymore, Iwaizumi went back to taking notes of anything useful from the fight.</p><p>Anzen would be the one to finally take down Kaze. Iwaizumi would make sure the world became a safer place for the one he loved.</p>
<hr/><p>***</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>Iwaizumi Hajime age 5</em>
</p><p>The weekend went by painfully slow. Hajime and his mom worked on a card for him to give Tooru on Monday. His teacher insisted he write out his apology along with saying it to Tooru’s face. Hajime and his mom worked on writing out the kanji for “I’m sorry” all weekend until Hajime could write it perfectly.</p><p>The rest of his construction paper card apology was nearly illegible. Still, he was proud of it, even if he hated the reasoning behind it. </p><p>Monday came and Hajime waited outside the school for Tooru to find him like he had the week before. Hajime clutched his card close to his chest and tried to repeat the apology he’d rehearsed. It had to be the first thing said between them or Annoying-kawa would say something. No matter how upset he’d been on Friday, Hajime knew if he heard the other boy’s voice it’d just irritate him all over again. This apology was just for losing his temper, something he wouldn’t do again. Irritating-kawa was still his least favorite person.</p><p>The teacher called Hajime inside and he scowled. The other boy hadn’t found him. Taking his seat, Hajime looked around but the now-familiar mop of brown hair was nowhere to be seen. His scowl deepened. </p><p>Late-kawa didn’t show up for morning reading or lunch and Hajime found himself shifting restlessly in his seat. Where was he?</p><p>The swings were empty when he went out to recess. Huffing, he sat down on the right swing and scowled at the few other students who dared look his way. His fist crumpled around the card he’d brought with him, the only sound near his otherwise quiet swing set. </p><p>The silence rang in his ears like Annoying-kawa’s voice did, rattling around his head and setting his teeth on edge. He kicked the mulch beneath his swing and glared at nothing. This was all Loud-kawa’s fault. He wasn’t even here and he was still ruining Hajime’s peace. </p><p>Standing, Hajime started back to the classroom. Maybe there he wouldn’t be so aware of Tooru’s absence. </p><p>“Hey!” A loud high-pitched cry rang through the playground. Hajime’s head whipped toward it so fast his neck ached, gaze searching for the owner of the voice. His eyes narrowed when he found him.</p><p>Tooru was barely visible over the shoulders of the four boys surrounding him. Those wide brown eyes that had haunted Hajime all weekend glared at the boys and his arms were thrown out to either side. Hajime couldn’t hear what Tooru was saying, but he could hear the mean-sounding laughter of the others. </p><p>Looking around, Hajime saw the teachers monitoring them near the buildings, but from where they were standing he knew the small group was hidden by the slides. Glancing between the two, Hajime took a step toward the teachers.</p><p>“Stop it!” Tooru cried and for once Hajime was glad his voice seemed to pierce into him. Hajime turned on his heel and broke into a dead run for the group, his card still clenched in one hand. </p><p>“Go away!” He shouted, startling the boys. They turned and he saw the moment they noticed his anger, fear paling their faces and shining in their eyes. All four scattered and Hajime slid to a stop in front of Tooru, still glaring at their retreating backs. </p><p>“You’re so cool!!” Annoying-kawa said, his voice much louder close up. Turning to look at him, Hajime tried to school his features into less of a frown, the apology he’d practiced trying to surface around his annoyance. </p><p>“I’m sorry for what I did last week,” he said in a rush, looking down at the dirt he’d kicked up while offering his, by now, extremely crumpled card. It was quiet, and Hajime wished Tooru would just say something, so this could all be over. </p><p>“It’s ok, see I got this cool cast. Wanna sign it?” he asked as he took the card, voice too happy and Hajime’s head jerked up only for him to be caught in those entirely too bright brown eyes. </p><p>A black permanent marker shoved in his face broke his frozen gaze. </p><p>“See? I saved you a spot,” Tooru said, pointing toward the middle of his bright blue cast. A few other small signatures dotted the wrapping, mostly the scribbles of his girl classmates. Hajime’s brow furrowed but he took the marker. He was being a Weird-kawa, right? Most people didn’t ask for the signature of the person who broke their arm. Holding onto the arm, Hajime scribbled out his name, huffing when the fabric caught the marker and made his already awful handwriting even worse. His mom would be disappointed.</p><p>Handing back the marker, Hajime released Tooru’s arm and turned around ready to leave this weird kid behind and get back to his swing set.</p><p>“Wait!” Loud-kawa said, good arm catching Hajime’s shirt. He looked scared and for a moment Hajime thought his brain finally caught on. “You have to tell me what this says,” he continued, waving around his cast so Hajime could see the big ugly characters he’d etched out.</p><p>“It’s my name, dummy,” he said, crossing his arms. How dare Mean-kawa make fun of his handwriting when he asked for it in the first place. Tooru’s head tilted to the side and Hajime swallowed.</p><p>“I know that but I…” he trailed off, looking down as he released Hajime’s shirt, hand coming up to scratch his ear. “Idontknowyourname.”</p><p>‘What?” Hajime said, not catching whatever the other boy had mumbled. Tooru looked up, his cheeks bright red.</p><p>“I don’t know your name!” He said, face scrunching up at the words. Hajime stared at him. What? Loud-kawa annoyed him for a week and he didn’t even know Hajime’s name? How could anyone be so irritating??</p><p>Setting his face into his best scowl, Hajime crossed his arms and glared at Tooru.</p><p>Tooru stared back with his head still tilted a bit to the left, wavy hair dipping into his shining eyes.</p><p>“I’m Hajime Iwaizumi,” he huffed, looking away from Tooru’s face.</p><p>“Nice to meet you Iwa-chan, I’m Tooru, Tooru Oikawa.”</p><p>“Don’t call me that.”</p><p>“But Hajime-chan sounds weird, I don’t like it,” Annoying-kawa complained.</p><p>“Don’t call me -chan then.”</p><p>“But we’re friends…?” Weird-kawa’s voice softened and his eyebrows scrunched further together. Friends? Since when? </p><p>“Whatever, Annoying-kawa,” he mumbled, turning away again. He didn’t need friends. Friends were loud and annoying and they messed with his stuff and got scared of him. Friends were awful and so was Mean-kawa. And yet...</p><p>“Iwa-chan, wait!” Hajime couldn’t stop himself from facing Tooru when he called again.</p><p>“What do want?” He snapped, making sure the other boy knew just how annoyed he was. Tooru bit his lip and moved to the side to reveal a bird’s nest at the base of the tree. Three baby birds huddled within the woven brambles, peeking out over the edge at the two of them.</p><p>“They were throwing rocks and stuff at them and...and I think that’s really mean. But if I leave them here the big kids will be mean to them too. So can you help me put them in the tree?” He pointed to a thick branch high above their heads. They weren’t supposed to climb the trees so all the lower branches were gone.</p><p>“We can’t reach,” he said and Tooru groaned.</p><p>“Of course we can’t reach from here. But!” he held one finger up, a grin lighting up his face. “But, if you let me sit on your shoulders I think I can make it.”</p><p>“No way! Why do I have to carry you?”</p><p>“Cause I’m hurt, duh?” He waved the cast in Haijime’s face and he huffed.</p><p>“Fine, but I’m not making another stupid card if you get hurt again, got it?” Hajime crouched down while Tooru gently grabbed the nest. With as much care as they could, Tooru swung his legs over Hajime’s shoulders, and they stood. </p><p>“Stop moving!” Hajime said, tightening his hold on Tooru’s legs.</p><p>“Then go forward,” he complained, wiggling around as he tried to reach for the tree branch. Hajime took a step, Tooru swaying as he did. He leaned up as high as he could, pushing against Hajime’s stomach as he tried to reach. Hajime gasped and stumbled as all the air left him.</p><p>“Hey! Shitty-kawa, stop!” Their combined shouts of surprise cut off as they hit the ground. Hajime scrambled up, searching for Tooru, and waiting to hear him start crying. Above them, the baby birds chirped, Annoying-kawa's plan having somehow worked. Why had he leaned so far? He saw him lying on his back a foot away, staring at the sky. </p><p>“Tooru?” He said, standing over the other boy and waiting for him to respond. </p><p>“You shouldn’t use bad words, Iwa-chan,” Tooru said, eyes sliding from the sky to Hajime’s face. He scowled.</p><p>“Oh yeah? Why not?” he asked, folding his arms. </p><p>“Cause my Mom says heroes aren’t supposed to use bad words,” he folded his arms as well, albeit far more awkwardly, and glared right back. Hajime blinked.</p><p>“I’m not a hero,” he mumbled. Tooru tilted his head, hair shifting the dirt halo surrounding him.</p><p>“Course you are Iwa-chan, you’re my hero. You saved me from those meanies didn’t you? And you helped me with the baby birds! My mom says that’s what a hero is supposed to do,” he smiled up from the ground. Hajime’s scowl relaxed and he held out a hand. Tooru took it instantly and Hajime pulled him up. With his frown gone, Hajime didn’t quite know what to do with his face but looking at Tooru’s bright eyes he felt himself relax a little more.</p><p>“Iwa-chan! Are you smiling?" Tooru all but shouted, his voice breaking the momentary silence. Hajime forced himself to scowl and turn away, storming back toward his swing set, Tooru’s hand still clasped in his own.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I gotta say I like this chapter. I didn't realize just how fun it was to write child Iwa and Oikawa together but I had a blast doing so. I, personally like flashbacks and I feel like they work with this type of narrative but please let me know if it was hard to understand the time skips. There is quite a bit more backstory to come while also progressing the current time story further and I want to make the two timelines flow together as best as possible. Below, I've put a list of all the characters currently introduced that have known powers. It should be noted that this list reflects what Oikawa and Iwaizumi know about other characters, so it may change as the story progresses.</p><p>Also, if you want another great Haikyuu superhero fic I highly recommend checking out Kono_Rohan_Da's 'Bad Guys Can Be Good Guys Too'. It's really cute and funny and suspenseful and I frequently re-read it because I enjoy it so much.</p><p>I'd love to hear any thoughts or questions you might have! I'm really excited about this story and hearing from readers always makes my day!</p><p>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa - Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo - Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Hidden</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“Did you keep playing?” Iwaizumi asked, his voice low and soft, like he worried he would spook him. Oikawa wanted to laugh and cry as his body instantly relaxed at his voice. He shook his head.</p><p>“My nephew plays and he asks for help sometimes but…” Oikawa trailed off, shrugging. His grandparents had tried to convince him to take up volleyball again after he moved to Tokyo, but he’d refused. Back then it didn’t matter to him how good he was because setting the ball to anyone who wasn’t Iwaizumi felt wrong. By the time he worked through (aka locked up) all that, he was already dedicating himself fully to his new extracurricular. Just because Kuroo decided to split his time between volleyball and grand-theft villainy did not mean Oikawa wanted to. He was still a perfectionist after all.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”</p><p>-George Orwell</p>
<hr/><p>Having Iwaizumi around was...weird, to say the least. Oikawa didn't know how to interact with him. Falling back into their grade school ways seemed wrong, but so did treating him like a stranger. Too much and too long had passed between them for any interaction to really make sense. So he settled on silence, though that'd never been his forte. </p><p>Pop music floated from Oikawa’s phone on his bed, filling the uncomfortable silence of the room with a low hum neither bothered paying attention to. Oikawa opened all his boxes, picking from them randomly as he put together his side of the room, careful to keep his duffle bag full of gear tucked completely under his bed. No need to open that can of worms, like, ever. </p><p>A few feet away from him, Iwaizumi did the same, albeit in a far more organized manner.</p><p>“How much closet space do you need?” Iwaizumi asked, hanging a few pairs of jeans. Oikawa looked up, mildly offended, with one hand on his hip. It’d been a while since they’d last seen each other but Iwa should know that answer. Iwaizumi laughed lightly and Oikawa froze at the sound. </p><p>“I’ll move my stuff over,” he said as he held up his hands. Oikawa's arm fell to his side, expression softening as Iwaizumi turned to look at the closet.</p><p>“Good, cause that whole box needs to go in there,” Oikawa said, jutting up his chin as he pointed imperiously at the largest of his boxes situated near the closet. It was the only one he hadn’t opened yet. Iwaizumi looked at it with wide eyes, shoulders slumping as he gave an exaggerated sigh and pushed his clothes as far to the left as he could, taking down his jeans. </p><p>A weird feeling curled within Oikawa’s stomach at the action, so familiar yet foreign. It was like they’d never been apart with how easy it was to talk to him, yet the uncomfortable awkwardness underlying their every interaction reminded him that they weren’t in grade school anymore. </p><p>They didn’t know each other and Oikawa had too many secrets locked up in his head for them to ever be as close as they once were. It was a sad fact, but a fact none-the-less.</p><p>Glancing at Iwaizumi’s desk, Oikawa saw a photo of him smiling back. He recognized it, their coach had insisted on taking it after their first volleyball game his second year of middle school. The whole team stared up at him, none of their names coming to mind. But on the right side of the photo stood middle-school Iwaizumi with his arm wrapped around Oikawa’s neck. Middle-school Oikawa was smiling brightly, hand thrown up in a peace symbol while young Iwaizumi looked two-second away from murdering him. </p><p>Oikawa smiled at the picture. They were so cute back then.</p><p>“Did you keep playing?” Iwaizumi asked, his voice low and soft, like he worried he would spook him. Oikawa wanted to laugh and cry as his body instantly relaxed at his voice. He shook his head.</p><p>“My nephew plays and he asks for help sometimes but…” Oikawa trailed off, shrugging. His grandparents had tried to convince him to take up volleyball again after he moved to Tokyo, but he’d refused. Back then it didn’t matter to him how good he was because setting the ball to anyone who wasn’t Iwaizumi felt wrong. By the time he worked through (aka locked up) all that, he was already dedicating himself fully to his new extracurricular. Just because Kuroo decided to split his time between volleyball and grand-theft villainy did not mean Oikawa wanted to. He was still a perfectionist after all. </p><p>“Your poor nephew. I remember you trying to teach the first years that one time,” Iwaizumi shuddered and Oikawa placed his hand over his heart, eyes widening as he gasped.</p><p>“Iwa! That’s mean!” He cried, heart thudding at the small grin his reaction received. Huffing, Oikawa turned the question back on him. “What about you?”</p><p>“No, I uh, had other things to focus on. I quit after you…” he trailed off and Oikawa felt a small twinge of remorse for bringing down the mood. Both of them knew what was unsaid.</p><p>He quit after Oikawa moved away. </p><p>Guess neither of them could play without the other. Oikawa shook his head. He didn’t need to go there. The ease that existed between them while bantering had vanished with the turn of conversation and the awkward tension returned. Biting his lip, Oikawa turned back to his current box and pulled out his twinkle lights. Iwaizumi also returned to his boxes, focusing on putting away the clothes he’d taken out of the closet while Oikawa searched for a good outlet.</p><p>Thankfully, there was one behind his desk. Grabbing the tacks from another box, Oikawa got up onto his unmade bed and started the long process of mapping out his masterpiece. He didn’t have a lot of posters or pictures to put up, mostly because his grandparents didn’t like ‘teen decor’, but even they couldn’t be mad at this ingenuity. </p><p>Hopefully, Iwaizumi didn’t mind twinkle lights at night. He never had before but, well...</p><p>Oikawa shook his head and refocused on the task at hand. </p>
<hr/><p>Nearly thirty minutes passed in silence between them before a knock on the door broke the stillness. Iwaizumi answered it and Oikawa leaned over to see Daichi standing at the door. A vaguely familiar man stood behind him, his tall build nearly filling the entire door frame. </p><p>“Hey! Ushijima and I wanted to know if you two wanted to grab an early dinner with us? Neighborly bonding and all that,” Daichi smiled, rubbing at his neck as he spoke. The name Ushijima rang a bell in Oikawa’s head but he couldn’t quite place how he knew it. Looking at the clock on Iwaizumi’s desk he saw it was three-thirty. A bit too early for dinner but he wasn’t opposed to the idea, his stomach had been growling quietly for a while now. </p><p>“Sure, where do you wanna go?” he asked, hopping down from his bed.</p><p>“We were hoping one of you had an idea? We’re both from Miyagi, so we don’t know anything around here,” Daichi said. Miyagi, huh? Ushijima from Miyagi. It clicked in Oikawa’s mind and he instantly scowled. Oh, karma really had it out for him didn’t it? Not only did he have to room with Iwaizumi, but the one person he’d never been able to beat at volleyball, who unknowingly strained every relationship Oikawa had, now lived across the hall. Wonderful. Perfect. </p><p>“Ushijima, as in the Ace of Shiratorizawa?” Iwaizumi asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Ushijima said, nodding once. Oikawa caught Iwaizumi glancing back at him, like he remembered all the pressure Oikawa put on himself because of the man. Closing his eyes, Oikawa took a deep breath. He’d put all that behind him. Volleyball wasn’t a part of his life anymore. Ushijima didn’t matter. Opening his eyes, Oikawa smiled tightly. </p><p>“I know a good ramen place a few minutes from here,” he offered, grabbing his keys from the sink and sweeping out of their, still disastrous, room. Daichi lit up at the suggestion, falling into step next to him while Ushijima waited for Iwaizumi to lock the door. </p><p>“Do they have Shoyu Ramen? My mom makes it the best, but I heard Tokyo has some really good shops.”</p><p>“I think so,” Oikawa shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t go to the ramen shop that often for actual ramen. Kaze may or may not have helped the owner pay her rent a few times in exchange for the weirdly good milk-bread she made. Who knew a back alley ramen shop had such an incredible family recipe? It also helped that the owner knew his and Kuroo’s secret identities due to an unfortunate incident involving falling through her roof after a particularly hard fight against a hero. Ever since the two of them had frequented the shop as both villains and civilians. </p><p>Iwaizumi and Ushijima caught up to them at the elevator, all four of them piling into the small space. </p><p>“Hey, I want to be next to the window,” Oikawa complained when Ushijima took up the spot right in front of the window. He wasn’t even appreciating the view. The taller man stared down at him, frowning. Oikawa glared right back, hands on his hips. Ushijima scooted to the side and Oikawa took his place, smirking with the small victory and reveling in how high up they were. To his right, Iwaizumi snorted and shook his head. </p><p>Mean-Iwa.</p><p>“Do you still play volleyball?” Iwaizumi asked Ushijima. Oikawa scowled. Who cared?</p><p>“Yes, I was invited to join the University’s team as a wing spiker. Do you play?” Of course, he got to play for the university. At least Oikawa hadn’t been planning on seeing any games during his time here. </p><p>“I played wing spiker in middle school but it's been a while, what was it like…” Oikawa zoned out of their conversation. He didn’t want to hear his old Ace talking to his old archrival about his old obsession. Why did people have to keep bringing back everything he’d successfully left in the past? Karma must really have it out for him. </p><p>He’d have to talk to Kuroo about planning another heist. That’d cheer him up.</p><p>Who knew, maybe he'd get another chance to flirt with the hot new hero.</p><p>“You alright?” Daichi asked, falling into step with him as they left the dorms. Iwaizumi and Ushijima trailed behind them, chatting about volleyball. Oikawa pretended he didn’t hear Iwaizumi’s almost wistful tone.</p><p>“I’m fine,” Oikawa huffed, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. Daichi hummed.</p><p>“Can I tell you something?” he calmly asked. Oikawa looked over at him and met his steady gaze. There was no judgment for his snippy behavior in his eyes, just a calm understanding Oikawa didn’t know how to interpret. It made him feel a bit guilty for taking out his mood on Daichi though.</p><p>“Sure,” he sighed. Daichi smiled.</p><p>“I’m telling you this because I want to be friends and I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us,” he started and Oikawa nodded. He could see himself being friends with Daichi. At the very least, listening to him talk kept his focus off his two issues who seemed to be hitting it off behind them. </p><p>“I’ve got this ability,” ok, cool so did a lot of people, “and it allows me to sense other's emotions,” wait what? Oikawa blinked. Daichi stared calmly back. He could sense other’s emotions? </p><p>Great.</p><p>Oikawa groaned. Of course, his new friend could sense the one thing he didn’t want people to know about. He barely understood his emotional states. Now he had to share them with someone else?</p><p>“I don’t tell anyone what I sense,” Daichi held up his hands, interrupting his train of thought. Oikawa blinked, staring down at him. Oh yeah, that would’ve been an issue too. “Sorry, I just, uh, felt you start to panic a bit and that’s usually people’s first concern…” he trailed off, rubbing his neck. </p><p>“Oh, no, I actually felt bad for you. I don’t want to deal with my own emotions, feeling someone else is just,” Oikawa shivered and Daichi chuckled. </p><p>“I’ve gotten pretty good at toning it down. I only feel surface emotions unless I’m trying and I won’t do that without your permission. Same with influencing your emotional state.” There were times Oikawa was both saddened and happy that the average person had more morals than he did. With a bit of training that ability of his could be a fantastic tool on a heist, but a pain if used against him. </p><p>“That’s a cool ability,” he said because Daichi looked a bit uncomfortable as the silence between them stretched. Cool and a little scary but then again so was Oikawa’s real ability. It’s not like he could really judge him for what he was born with. </p><p>“Thanks, anyway, what I was trying to say is that if you ever need help sorting through anything I’m here, but I’ll try not to pry if you don’t,” he smiled and Oikawa returned it.</p>
<hr/><p>Mizuki Ramen had exactly one entrance tucked away down an alleyway seldom used during the day. Oikawa had never given the location a second thought. He’d been in far sketchier places as Kaze and really, Mizuki’s was a fairly reputable establishment. It had taken forever for Kaze to convince Mizuki-san to accept any money and as far as he knew, he and Kuroo were the only ‘criminals’ to frequent the place. </p><p>“Where are we going?” Iwaizumi asked, stopping at the alley entrance. Oikawa looked back to see all three of them had paused. </p><p>“Mizuki-san’s shop is down here,” he pointed behind him into the shadows. Iwaizumi glanced warily around the alley and Oikawa sighed at his caution. Like he’d ever drag Iwaizumi into a dangerous situation. </p><p>“It’s fine, I promise,” he said, grabbing Daichi’s wrist and pulling him into the alley with him. Ushijima and Iwaizumi quickly followed, falling into step on either side of them, both still tensely looking around. Oikawa rolled his eyes and shared a glance with Daichi. He didn’t need to be an empath to decipher either boy’s current mood.</p><p>Oikawa would find their unnecessary protectiveness annoying if it wasn’t so funny. Who were they worried would pop out? A villain?</p><p>He didn’t stop when they came to the shop’s plain door, walking right in with a cheery greeting.</p><p>“Oikawa-kun!” Mizuki called from the kitchen, metal pots clanging. </p><p>“Sit anywhere,” Oikawa said, slipping off his outdoor shoes and into a pair of slippers. He jogged to the kitchen as another clattered rang in the air. A mound of pots and pans slowly moved toward the sink. Breathing out, he felt a breeze curl around him and race toward the pile, swirling beneath it to help alleviate the weight. The dishes wobbled to the sink and Oikawa’s wind caught them as Mizuki let go. Raising his hand, the wind carried the dishes up and over the sink before gently lowering them. </p><p>“It’s been so long Oikawa-kun,” Mizuki said, grabbing his face in her hands before he could fully release his power, sending the dishes crashing the last few inches. She paid no mind, moving his face back and forth as she looked him over.</p><p>“You’re too skinny!” She tutted.</p><p>“Mizuki-san!” He whined when she started messing with his hair. </p><p>“Is everything-” Iwaizumi’s voice came from the kitchen entrance and Oikawa wrenched his head to the side to give him a pleading look. </p><p>“Oh! You brought a friend!” Mizuki said, releasing Oikawa and hobbling over to Iwaizumi. She poked his bare arm, smiling up at him through her wrinkles. “He’s a good-looking one too!”</p><p>“Mizuki-san!!” He chastised, cheeks flaming. Iwaizumi chuckled, of course he would, and bowed politely to the old woman while Oikawa looked on with a scowl. Great, now she’d get on him for not having good manners.</p><p>“Thank you for the compliment, Mizuki-san,” he said and Mizuki laughed.</p><p>“Of course dear, now are you hungry?" She ushered Iwaizumi out of the kitchen, leaving Oikawa to trail after them. He heard her shout of surprise when she saw the other two. "Oh, there are more of you! Oikawa-kun you should’ve told me you were bringing so many guests,” she huffed, bustling over to the counter while Oikawa and Iwaizumi joined the others at the table. Oikawa shrugged.</p><p>“You complain when Kuroo and I don’t bring people, and you complain when I do bring people! How am I supposed to know what you want-Ow!” he cried when she hit him over the head with a ladle. </p><p>“I want you to have friends, now introduce me, dear,” Mizuki asked. Oikawa nodded his head sullenly, carding his hands through his hair to try and fix the damage down by the ladle. </p><p>“Iwaizumi, Ushijima, and Daichi,” he said, pointing to each one inturn.</p><p>“Iwaizumi?” Mizuki asked, looking sharply back at Oikawa. He gulped, hoping she wouldn’t say anything. Her crinkled face was an impassive mask as she stared at him. “I think I had a cousin who married an Iwaizumi. A nice boy, you remind me of him,” she laughed, patting him on the head. Oikawa relaxed, glad she had some tact.</p><p>He didn’t want to explain how this old lady knew Iwaizumi’s name because he’d woken up from a concussion nap crying for him. It just didn’t seem like a good move.</p><p>“I’ll be back in just a minute, I have to check on my peppermint plant for your tea, dear,” she tapped Oikawa’s head again with the ladle and scooted back into the kitchen, leaving three highly confused, and one disgruntled, college students behind.</p><p>“Isn’t...Isn’t she going to ask for our order?” Daichi asked, staring after Mizuki. Oikawa leaned back in his chair.</p><p>“She already knows what you want,” he shrugged, “her ability is some sort of premonition but she only ever uses it to take orders and annoy me.” Oikawa flopped forward onto the table, resting his head on his arms and pouting up at Daichi. </p><p>“She’s ah, an interesting woman,” Daichi said, staring at the kitchen door. Interesting was one way to describe Mizuki.</p><p>“You two seem very friendly,” Iwaizumi said, voice strangely tight. Oikawa looked up at him and tried to match the frown marring his face. The other boy scowled more, Oikawa matching him frown line for frown line until Iwaizumi huffed out a laugh.</p><p>“See she has this milk-bread recipe-” Oikawa saw the moment Iwaizumi understood. He rolled his eyes. Oikawa grinned.</p><p>“Oikawa-kun, the mites came back,” Mizuki sighed as she exited the kitchen with four piping bowls of ramen and a platter of milk-bread. </p><p>“Again?” Oikawa groaned. Man, he’d been looking forward to some peppermint tea. Especially because all this stress was not good for his skin. </p><p>“Mites?” Ushijima asked, speaking for the first time since entering the shop. </p><p>“Oh yes, they get into my peppermint plant every year and ruin it! Now I don’t have any peppermint for Oikawa-kun’s tea,” she frowned. Ushijima’s eyebrows scrunched together.</p><p>“I can help,” he said, holding one hand palm up. Oikawa watched as a small green shoot grew out of his hand. The shoot rapidly grew numerous tiny leaves that broadened before his eyes until a miniature peppermint plant sat in Ushijima’s palm. He plucked it off, the remaining stem quickly turning brown and fading back into his skin, and handed it to Mizuki. She blinked and took the offering.</p><p>“I like these new friends of yours, Oikawa-kun,” she smiled brightly at Ushijima, getting a small one in return. Oikawa groaned and let his head hit the table again. </p><p>Of course, his rival-who-was-actually-not-a-rival-anymore could be useful and look cute while doing so. Karma hated him.</p><p>Mizuki left to make him his tea as they dug into their meals. Idle conversation about classes and majors popped up but for the most part, they all ate in awkward silence. Oikawa hated it, but it's not like he had a better topic to bring up. </p><p>“You have a really cool ability, Ushijima,” Daichi said. Ushijima ducked his head.</p><p>“Thank you, it’s not very useful though,” he shrugged.</p><p>“Well, it made good tea,” Oikawa took a sip of the steaming cup to prove his point. Unfortunately, it really was one of the best cups of peppermint tea he’d ever had here.</p><p>“I appreciate that, if you want more I can make some,” he offered. Oikawa sighed at the metaphorical olive branch. He could be petty, he liked being petty. But Ushijima also lived across the hall from him and Oikawa got the distinct feeling that they’d be orbiting in the same friend group for their first year at least. He had enough on his plate without holding onto old grudges. Especially old grudges that didn’t matter because he didn’t play volleyball anymore.</p><p>“I might take you up on that,” Oikawa said, giving him a small smile. He pretended not to notice Daichi and Iwaizumi smiling as well.</p><p>Other customers began trickling as they finished their meal, taking Mizuki’s attention off them. Since she was busy, Oikawa took the initiative and pulled out a handful of bills.</p><p>“Come on,” he said, ignoring the looks the three were sending him when he placed the wad on the table. </p><p>“We can pay Oi-” </p><p>“Mizuki-san would be upset if I made my ‘new friends’ pay their first time here,” he shrugged. Mizuki would be upset he was paying her in general, she always was. Honestly, Oikawa didn’t see the issue. He always gave her legally earned money. One useful benefit of his family’s business, however much he despised it. </p><p>They left the shop in the early evening when it was still too bright for the alley’s lanterns to be lit. What a shame, maybe the sight would have made the three less wary of Mizuki’s location. Oh well, he’d just have to bring them back.</p><p>Oikawa froze at that thought. Was he really already planning on bringing these three back? He wasn’t even sure if they were all friends, or if he wanted to be friends with any of them besides Daichi. Having friends who weren’t in the know about his extracurriculars was dangerous. It’s why he and Kuroo kept everyone else at a distance. Other people meant higher chances of exposure and Oikawa knew for a fact that Iwaizumi would be opposed to what he did at night. The other boy had a strong sense of right and wrong, heroes and villains, something Oikawa had fought hard to preserve the entire time he’d known him. </p><p>The memory of the picture on Iwaizumi’s desk surfaced as they walked onto the main street back to campus. Ushijima and Iwaizumi were in the lead this time, Daichi a few steps in front of him, like he knew Oikawa needed time to think.</p><p>He probably did. </p><p>Oikawa would be lying if he said he didn’t want that ease with Iwaizumi again. But too much had passed and he’d made too many decisions Iwaizumi could never forgive. He wanted to be friends with him, and Oikawa had no doubt Iwaizumi wanted the same. He’d seen the look in his eyes when Iwaizumi saw him earlier today.</p><p>But it was never about wanting when it came to them. Wanting only caused them misfortune. He could be friends with him, Iwaizumi wouldn't stop until they were, but only at a surface level. They could never be how they once were, no matter how much they wanted, because Iwaizumi <em>needed</em> Oikawa to protect him from the monsters of the world. And that included Oikawa.</p><p>Mind made up, Oikawa pushed down all conflicting feelings and hid them deep within. Daichi raised a brow when he fell into step next to him. </p><p>Oikawa just smiled back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oof, the ending for this one hurt a bit to write. Oikawa's feelings about their childhood relationship dynamics are a bit different than Iwaizumi thinks they are. Why though? I'd love to hear any thoughts you all might have. </p><p>I wasn't planning on updating this fic until next week but this chapter kept gnawing at me so I had to write it all. So I figured it can be a Christmas Eve present for anyone who celebrates Christmas and a nice treat for those who don't. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and is looking forward to New Year's next week! I know I am!</p><p>As always here is the current list of powers:<br/>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa - Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo - Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting<br/>Daichi - N/A - Empath<br/>Ushijima - N/A - Can grow small plants from his palms<br/>Mizuki - N/A - Minor Premonition</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Creating a Hero</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oikawa stood in front of the sink, hairbrush held up to his mouth in one hand while the other pointed at the mirror, frozen mid-lip-synced-lyric. Iwaizumi paused, still holding the door open as Oikawa’s eyes flickered to Iwaizumi’s face, then down to everything his thin tank-top did little to hide. </p><p>Iwaizumi grinned as Oikawa gulped, his tomato red face quickly turning away. All those long nights working out and running across rooftops suddenly seemed even more worth it. </p><p>“Going to bed soon?” He asked, moving past Oikawa. The other boy nodded mutely, still staring at anything not him. Iwaizumi laughed under his breath. He’d never received this kind of reaction before, he’d have to remember this.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey! I hope everyone had a good holiday season and is looking forward to New Year's Eve tomorrow! Please enjoy my last bit of 2020 writing!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>-Chris Colfer</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>
    <span>Iwaizumi Hajime age 7</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Loud-kawa was a danger magnet. This Hajime was absolutely sure about. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no other acceptable explanation for the myriad of cuts and bruises Tooru tried to hide beneath his clothes. Everyone knew that Annoying-kawa was his best friend and that meant no one was allowed to mess with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, Irritating-kawa’s charms had spread to others in the year he’d been in Miyagi. Somehow, Tooru managed to get every girl in their class to love him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, this didn't sit well with Hajime, mostly because it stole away his time with Tooru. But it really didn’t sit well with the other boys because it took away the girls' attention. So it didn’t matter that they all knew Tooru was his best friend and no one should mess with him. The hidden bruises proved they still didn’t understand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It pissed Hajime off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Iwa-chan!” Tooru called as he set the volleyball. Hajime leaped up and felt the ball connect with his palm as he spiked it over the net. A cheer rose from the girl onlookers as they scored again. Hajime didn’t bother paying attention to them, focusing entirely on Tooru’s beaming smile as he ran toward him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were so cool!” Tooru crowed, jumping up with his hands on Hajime’s shoulders. Over the top of his head, Hajime saw the two opposing boys scowl. Tooru raced toward the group of girls, who’d managed to collect the volleyball. With his attention elsewhere Hajime’s eyes narrowed into his fiercest glare making both boys step away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned back to Loud-kawa, who was busy making all the girls giggle annoyingly while holding the volleyball aloft. Huffing, Hajime stormed toward him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No reason to give the boys more reasons to bully him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooru squawked as Hajime grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back to the court. Annoying-kawa was the one who wanted to play volleyball at recesses, not him. Hajime was more than fine staying on the swings the whole time. But no, he needed to ‘socialize’ according to his best friend. So they ended up using the few skills they’d practiced to destroy all the other makeshift volleyball teams their classmates tried to throw together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It really didn’t matter to Hajime if they won or lost those recess volleyball games. But it was something that made Tooru happy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And anything that made Tooru happy was worth it in his book.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Clumsy-kawa kept getting hurt and Hajime didn’t know how. He was with him all the time at school, after school, and even before school. They only lived a block away from each other. It shouldn’t be this hard to find out who was still bullying him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It would be a lot easier if Stupid-kawa would just tell him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But any time he brought it up, Tooru would smile and tell him it was nothing. That he was just clumsy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yeah right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooru was a gifted athlete. He had a kind of grace that could make even adults jealous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime had seen what physical abuse looked like, no matter how hard his mom had tried to hide the marks. He personally had never experienced it, but he knew what to look for and he knew he could help if only Tooru told him what was going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Iwa-chan! Let’s go practice!” Tooru said, grabbing Hajime’s wrist and dragging him down the street toward the park. He held a volleyball under the other arm and as Hajime trailed behind him, he saw Tooru’s shirt lift up in the wind. The bruise on his side Hajime had been watching heal for the past week was now a sickly yellow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooru was the last person who deserved to be hurt in any way, even if he could try Hajime’s patience to the brink. Now if only he could convince Stupid-kawa of that, maybe then he’d stop trying to be so stubborn and let Hajime in.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Mean-kawa could be just that, mean.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could be mean to the other boys in their class. His words were sharp jabs that could cut through their insecurities and leave even the toughest sulking toward the slides.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(And if they tried anything, Hajime was always there, glaring over his shoulder. Daring anyone to try anything.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could be mean to the girls in their class. He had an understanding of their social dynamics Hajime couldn’t figure out if he tried. And Tooru had made him try. With a few whispered words he could incite chaos amidst the classroom for the next week, all while retaining his loyal band of ‘fan-girls’. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Hajime could do nothing to help him here, though he’d once tried glaring. All it did was make a girl cry and Tooru supposedly had to spend the next week fixing every girl’s poor opinion of Hajime.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But most of all, Tooru was downright cruel to himself. He never used words to express it and maybe that’s why no one except Hajime ever noticed. But Hajime paid close attention to his best friend and he saw the silent way Tooru tortured himself. Every time they would go out to the park to practice volleyball, a sport they both loved, and Tooru would push himself to practice longer, harder than even Hajime could keep up with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(They weren’t even on a real team yet!)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He saw it every time Tooru laughed off Hajime’s attempt to find out what was wrong with him. Even though he would make a performance out of getting the shallowest of papercuts in Hajime’s presence. It pissed him off, those fake smiles Tooru would give, a silent wall telling Hajime he couldn’t help. An unnecessary wall cutting Tooru off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Hajime was every bit as stubborn as his best friend and he’d be damned if he didn’t try his best to alleviate some of Tooru’s personal cruelty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So when Tooru paused practicing by himself and came to sit next to him one day at the park, Hajime handed him a water bottle. The least he could do on these long days was keep Tooru healthy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Iwa-chan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Tooru?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think I’m mean?” Dumb-kawa looked up at him, sweat-slicked hair hanging limply in front of his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes,” Hajime said as he took a careful observation of Tooru’s physical state. He’d do his best to convince him to go home after this break. Tooru hummed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to be...mean,” Tooru trailed off, grimacing. He took another drink of water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Hajime said, trying to play it cool. Tooru huffed and tilted his head back to look at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you help me not be so mean?” Tooru blinked owlishly up at him. Mutely, Hajime nodded his head. A beaming smile was his answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah you’re the best Iwa-chan, so see I was thinking you could-ack!!” Tooru yelped as Hajime grabbed his shirt collar and began to drag him out of the park. He kicked up a fuss with a never-ending series of complaints but Hajime didn’t care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t about to waste this golden opportunity trying to figure out words. Tooru had given him permission to stop him when he was being mean and Hajime was going to run with it. Oh sure, he’d do something if Annoying-kawa exchanged words with others. But even if it wasn’t Tooru’s intention, Hajime was going to use this as an excuse to force him to be nicer to himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And maybe, one day, Tooru would finally let down those invisible walls and let Hajime in completely.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>*****</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>It was a little after six when they returned to the dorms. Daichi and Ushijima said their goodbyes and returned to their room, Iwaizumi and Oikawa following their lead. The almost comfortable air that existed among the four of them disappeared the moment they were alone together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you like Mizuki’s?” Too-,no, Oikawa asked. His voice was light, perfectly friendly in the most dishonest of ways. No matter how much time passed, Iwaizumi could always spot Oikawa’s fake friend methods. He may be more skilled with his masks since they last saw each other, but Iwaizumi had watched him perfect his more manipulative tendencies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The food was really good,” Iwaizumi opened his last box while Oikawa hopped back onto his bed, tacking up the twinkle lights in a strange pattern Iwaizumi wasn’t even going to try to understand. Sometimes it was best to leave Tooru to his imagination. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa hummed, turning on a random pop song to fill the silence between them. Without seeming to notice, he swayed to the beat, lips mouthing the words even as the scattered lights stole all his attention. Iwaizumi watched him unapologetically, barely paying attention to the items he was placing in his dresser. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he first saw Oikawa in the hall, he thought the boy looked perfect. His smile was large, his mannerisms grandiose, his clothes and hair seeming to be barely touched by the rain outside. He told Iwaizumi that he’d been great and at first Iwaizumi believed him because he really did look the part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But there’d been something missing in his expression, something Iwaizumi couldn’t describe, couldn’t even be sure was real until he saw it again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until he met Mizuki-san that Iwaizumi finally grasped just how good Oikawa’s masks had become. There was a softness in his eyes when he smiled at the old lady, an ease to his words. He acted more like the Tooru Iwaizumi remembered from their many sleepovers and long days at the park.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it wasn’t until he watched Tooru mindlessly dance as he tacked up twinkle lights in a pattern only making sense in his head, that Iwaizumi saw the one thing those masks couldn’t replicate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The one thing that, when it was suddenly taken away from him, made Iwaizumi realize he loved Tooru.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was glad no matter what he went through, Tooru never lost his spark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now if only Stubborn-kawa made it easier for him to reconnect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Time passed between them to the beat of a pop song as the sun sunk below the horizon outside their window. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Iwa-zumi?” Oikawa said, pausing a bit during his last name. A shiver passed up Iwaizumi’s spine at the wrongness of hearing him say the full word. Shaking off the feeling, he hummed in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it okay if I keep my twinkle lights on tonight?” He’d settled into a seated position on his bed, stuff still scattered across his side of the room. The twinkle light in question had yet to be plugged in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Iwaizumi had just assumed the twinkle lights would stay on for the night. Oikawa always slept with a light on. Well...except for those couple of sleepovers after Iwaizumi got his powers and before Tooru was suddenly taken away from Miyagi. Iwaizumi shook his head. He didn’t need to be thinking about those memories. Doing so would only torture him during the long upward battle he faced to regain that level of trust with Oikawa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gained a small smile for his answer and the room fell back into the quiet beat controlled by Oikawa’s playlist as they both continued to unpack.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another hour passed before Iwaizumi finished with his boxes. Oikawa’s stuff was still scattered about and he didn’t seem keen on stopping anytime soon. Grabbing his phone and shower kit, Iwaizumi went into the bathroom. He knocked on the door to their suitemate’s room and when there was no reply, he went through. The other room was a mirror image of his own but shrouded in the kind of darkness he knew their’s never would be so long as Oikawa was around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iwaizumi allowed himself to breathe in, the shadows humming at the slight pull of his ability. He pulled out his phone, the harsh light nearly blinding him when he clicked it on. Using his ability, Iwaizumi lowered the light intensity to an acceptable level. The action felt weird, like working a seldom used muscle. It was a technique he’d long neglected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scrolling through his notification feed, Iwaizumi saw a message from Snow. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>[Snow:] I won’t be able to patrol for the next few nights so please take this time off to rest and become more familiar with the area. I will text you with more information later.</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Damn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d been hoping for another patrol to help work out the emotions roiling in his stomach. At least another patrol meant another chance at catching Kaze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iwaizumi breathed out and released his ability, the screen instantly brightening. He clicked it off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, at least he could focus solely on Tooru.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And figuring out how he was going to sneak out every night without alerting him to Iwaizumi’s secret identity. That might be a bit important. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Going back into the bathroom, Iwaizumi got ready for a shower. He remembered Oikawa always took a morning one and he had no idea what their suitemates would be like so it was probably best he just got used to taking his showers at night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iwaizumi might be a superhero, but he did not want to be the one to mess up Oikawa’s morning routine. The other boy might be a civilian but he could make the fiercest villains look tame compared to his petty wrath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While taking a quick shower, Iwaizumi snagged one of the open caddy shelves for his 3-in-1 soap wash. Oikawa had already taken over two of the shelves, leaving only one other available for whoever their poor suitemates were. Getting out of the shower, Iwaizumi toweled off and threw on his pajama shorts and tank top. He looked at his phone again, but, seeing no response from Snow, pocketed it and went back into the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa stood in front of the sink, hairbrush held up to his mouth in one hand while the other pointed at the mirror, frozen mid-lip-synced-lyric. Iwaizumi paused, still holding the door open as Oikawa’s eyes flickered to Iwaizumi’s face, then down to everything his thin tank-top did little to hide. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iwaizumi grinned as Oikawa gulped, his tomato red face quickly turning away. All those long nights working out and running across rooftops suddenly seemed even more worth it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Going to bed soon?” He asked, moving past Oikawa. The other boy nodded mutely, still staring at anything not him. Iwaizumi laughed under his breath. He’d never received this kind of reaction before, he’d have to remember this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Crawling into bed, Iwaizumi plugged in his phone and set it on the windowsill while he waited for Oikawa to finish his nightly routine. Stuff was still scattered across the other side of the room, but Oikawa managed to make his bed while he’d been out. Iwaizumi grinned at the star constellations space ships printed on his comforter. And were those aliens waving from inside the ships? Honestly, he didn’t expect any different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was nice to see that some things hadn’t changed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa turned off the sink and overhead lights, bathing the room in darkness. Iwaizumi sat up, leg already swung off the bed as he waited for Tooru to freak out. The other boy stared at him, head tilted to the side, his expression unreadable beneath a mask made of shadows.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowly, Iwaizumi got back into bed. Without a hint of the fear he remembered, Oikawa walked to his desk and plugged in his twinkle lights.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They cast an almost ethereal glow over Oikawa’s entire side of the room. The lights zig-zagged across the ceiling like stars, creating vague forms Iwaizumi felt like he should know, but didn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa climbed into bed, plugging in his own phone and turning it on as he snuggled beneath his comforter. Some small part of Iwaizumi worried he’d seem creepy for staring at him, but most of him didn’t care. The twinkle lights cast a halo on Tooru’s familiar brown hair, illuminating his face in a soft glow. A small smile lit up his expression further and Iwaizumi felt himself melt a bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooru’s eyes flicked up and met his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smile faded and Oikawa placed his phone next to his pillow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodnight, Iwa,” he said, rolling over and pulling up the blanket, obscuring him completely from Iwaizumi’s sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night, To-, Oikawa.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Iwaizumi rolled over as well, letting the twinkle lights’ glow fade from view, his own lumpy shadow taking their place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He breathed in and tried finding enough peace of mind to fall into a restless sleep.  </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>*****</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<em>
    <span>Iwaizumi Hajime age 8</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Iwa-chan?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, Tooru?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are we best friends?" Tooru sat up amidst his futon, the swaths of fabric making him seem smaller than usual. His wide eyes glowed in the minimal light, staring intently at Hajime.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Frowning, Hajime rolled onto his elbow so he could look at the person who would talk at great lengths to anyone who would listen, or even not listen, about how they were the best friends the world had ever seen. His words made Hajime uneasy. It wasn't like Tooru to ask that sort of stupid question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's what you tell me every day," he said, trying to be casual. Hajime regretted his tone the moment Tooru looked down, hands twisting nervously in his lap. The annoyingly bright smile he always gave Hajime nowhere to be seen. Swallowing thickly, he scrambled to find the words to fix it. "Of course Stupid-kawa, you're my best friend," He added, sitting upright. Tooru nodded his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yea, yea we are...and-and best friends can tell each other anything right?" He looked up and Hajime felt his heart stutter at the expression in his eyes. There was something wildly intense about him, like the caged tiger he once saw at a zoo. He...he didn't like that look on Tooru.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It scared him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mhm, you can tell me anything," Hajime slipped out of bed and crawled over to his best friend, plopping down next to him. Tooru automatically leaned into his side and Hajime took his futon and wrapped it around them both. Silence reigned in Hajime’s bedroom as he waited for the other boy to say something, anything, to explain this sudden change in behavior. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you think good guys can...can also be bad guys? Like can...can a hero ever do something to make them into a villain?" Tooru kept his eyes focused on his hands, head pressed against Hajime's shoulder. Faint tremors rocked his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was he trying to say? Could someone good like a hero also be someone bad like a villain? Did Tooru do something bad? Was he worried they couldn't become heroes together cause he wasn't perfect? If that was the issue then Hajime would fix it. Tooru was a good person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime knew what bad guys looked like and he wouldn't let his best friend think he was on the same level.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think heroes can make mistakes, but they're still good because it's what they choose to be. Villains are bad and heroes are good, that's why they have those jobs. And you're good Tooru, no matter what you do, you're good," the words spilled out of his mouth before Hajime could filter them. He needed Stupid-kawa to understand there was a big difference between a hero making a mistake and a villain who chose to do bad things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Iwa-" Tooru said, his voice nothing more than a soft whisper. His hands clenched in his lap and Hajime pulled him a little tighter. Something twisted within his gut. Tooru wasn’t supposed to whisper unless he was talking about alien conspiracy theories. He was supposed to be loud and happy and not...and not scared. The only thing Hajime had ever seen him be afraid of was the dark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taking a deep breath, Hajime hardened his resolve. They were best friends. He could tell Tooru anything. He would tell Tooru anything if it meant he understood that he could never be a villain in Hajime’s eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can I tell you a secret?" Hajime asked him, reaching down to lift up Tooru's head. The other boy blinked owlishly before nodding. Scrunching his eyebrows, Hajime took another deep breath. He could say this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My dad was a villain." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime paused, letting that settle in. Memories of a time before Tooru tried to surface with his declaration. Those dark nights where he’d hide in his room and try to block out the screaming with his blanket. All the practice he got at scaring other kids so they wouldn’t ask questions about his family. Every time he’d push people away because they looked at him with the same fear he’d seen in his mom’s eyes his first five years of life. The reminder of how easy it would be for him to follow in his dad’s footsteps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d never actually said those words out loud before, too afraid that acknowledging it would be admitting to all his fears. They left a bitter taste on his tongue. Tooru's eyes widened but he didn't react otherwise and Hajime took it as a sign to continue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He-he was a really bad person, cause he, he hurt people to get what he wanted and...and sometimes he'd hurt my mom. She said he had a bad temper but he chose to hurt people. That's why he was a villain." He stopped, his chest feeling uncomfortably tight. Still, Tooru did nothing but wait and listen patiently. It was so strange, like some weird role reversal within their friendship. But it was nice, in a way, even if Hajime felt like his every word was jumbling up his point further. He just hoped Tooru understood what he was trying to say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime held him a little tighter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But then one night, a hero from Tokyo came and he fought my dad and he beat him and put him in jail. And now he can't hurt my mom or anyone else anymore. That hero saved us cause he’s a good person and that's his job," Hajime smiled at the memory. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mom made fried tofu for breakfast the morning after she got the news. She’d scooped him up in a hug the moment he walked out of his room, crying harder than he’d ever seen. He'd thought something terrible happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she looked at him with the biggest smile, so full of joy and hope, and he knew they were finally going to be okay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their names and faces were kept out of the news at her request. For as infamous as his father had been in Miyagi, the coverage of his defeat and arrest was barely covered. One day people were being terrorized and the next they weren’t and his dad was soon forgotten by most. Hajime liked that ending to his dad’s story. It was what a villain deserved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it was all possible because of a hero.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The one hero Hajime would adore until he died. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait... you're dad was Shadow Thief?" Tooru said, breaking the quiet. He was looking down again, a deep frown creasing his forehead. Hajime blinked. How-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How did you know?" he asked. No one was supposed to know. He hadn’t even planned on telling Tooru. It wasn’t like he should even know about Shadow Thief. Tooru moved to Miyagi almost a month after the arrest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh uh, my dad told me, see, cause he's Helios. He came home really mad after-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Your dad is Helios?! Why...why didn't you tell me that?" Hajime grabbed Amazing-kawa’s shoulders, shaking him. For his part, Tooru looked highly startled at his reaction. His eyes flew open and his breath hitched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Please don't tell him I told you!" Tooru's voice rose as his hand grabbed Hajime's nightshirt. "It's supposed to be a secret and...and," Tooru seemed close to tears. Awe temporarily set aside, Hajime pulled Tooru back in for a hug. The other boy tucked his head beneath Hajime’s chin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I won't tell anyone, I promise, okay?" He tried to reassure, mentally kicking himself for upsetting Tooru again. The whole point of telling him all this was to make him less afraid of being a bad person. Lot of good he was doing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry about that...I guess it’s hard having a hero as a dad. You can’t tell anyone cause of secret identity stuff. Is that why we never have sleepovers at your house?” Hajime asked, trying to redirect the conversation. Tooru nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That made sense. Hajime could never have friends over when his dad was around either. Then again, he couldn’t really have friends to invite over, not until Tooru. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though to be fair, it wasn’t like Tooru had many friends besides Hajime.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was hard on both sides, but at least Tooru had a Hero waiting at home. Especially a great hero like Helios! That had to count for something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime didn’t realize he’d been voicing his thoughts until Tooru began to shake against his chest. Wetness seeped through his shirt, hot and burning his skin with the guilt of somehow once again making it worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-you r-really love heroes, don-hic-don’t you, Iwa-chan?” Tooru hiccuped through his sobs. He raised his head to stare at Hajime through too bright, glassy eyes surrounded by snotty tear-streaked skin. He’d look so pathetic if it wasn’t for the painfully large smile plastered on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime’s stomach twisted. He could almost see his mom’s expression from that morning mirrored on Tooru's face. Yet where she’d held him tight with an embrace full of warmth and safety, Tooru clung to him with near inhuman desperation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt like there was something else to those words, but for the life of him, Hajime didn’t know what it was. So he said the first thing that came to mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well yeah, I think the world needs more good people like your dad. And-And one day, cause we’re good people, we can be heroes too." Hajime rubbed Tooru’s back as he leaned against his shoulder, sobs still wracking his small body. Tooru laughed around his tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You already are my hero, Iwa-chan,” Tooru said and Hajime felt his own emotional dam begin to crumble as somehow, with just seven words, Tooru locked those horrible memories of his dad back up. Hajime felt like a weight had been lifted off him, even as Tooru grew heavier with exhaustion at his side. A tear trekked down his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How’d he get so lucky to have someone as amazing as Tooru be his best friend? He’d said hundreds of words and only seemed to make him worse. Yet with just a sentence, Tooru made everything better. Like he’d been doing since he forced himself into Hajime’s life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowly, Tooru’s sobs began to taper off and his breathing evened out into the tell-tale pattern of sleep. Hajime didn’t have the will-power to separate from his best friend right now, so he held Tooru tight and lowered them both to the floor. He made sure Tooru was comfortable. It didn’t matter that he got more of the futon or that Hajime’s arm would fall asleep soon with their position. He’d do anything if it meant his one and only friend would smile, really smile, again. Because that too good smile was a superpower worthy of even the greatest heroes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hajime didn’t understand how this conversation, which started with him trying to convince Tooru that he was good, ended with Tooru in tears insisting that he, Hajime, was his hero. But he wanted to know, so maybe he could start convincing Tooru that he was a hero too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just didn’t know how to start the conversation again. Especially when he didn’t even know where he messed everything up in the first place. Hajime fell asleep with his arms wrapped tight around his best friend, hoping an answer would come to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the morning, Tooru acted like nothing was wrong and Hajime, still unsure how to bring up the subject again, didn't say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He always felt like maybe things would have turned out differently if he had.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey! I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter! I had fun writing the whole middle section and the 'Hajime age 8' part hurt me to write. This whole chapter was almost called 'Miscommunication' because of that part but then baby Oikawa had to go and tell Iwaizumi he was his hero and well, let's just say that's the real start to Anzen's origin story. I have three more backstory pieces from Hajime's POV that'll be spread out over the next few chapters. Hopefully, they've been fun to read and added some depth to the current timeline's issues. </p><p>I'd love to hear any thoughts, theories, or constructive critiques you may have. It helps me develop my writing style so I can provide yall with the best possible story I can type! Plus it 100% makes my day!</p><p>As always here is the current list of powers:<br/>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa - Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo - Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting<br/>Daichi - N/A - Empath<br/>Ushijima - N/A - Can grow small plants from his palms<br/>Mizuki - N/A - Minor Premonition</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Suitemates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I don’t know if we can be friends with our suitemates,” he said, pulling out the hair gel and blow dryer. </p><p>“Huh?” Iwaizumi groaned as he slid out of bed and padded toward the sink. Oikawa scooted over so Iwaizumi could grab his toothbrush.</p><p>“At least one of our suitemates is here and they use three-in-one soap. I saw it in the shower and people who use three-in-one soap have obviously never read anything about skin or hair care and men who haven’t can't appreciate me to my fullest,” Oikawa gestured to himself. Iwaizumi stared at him, sleep still fogging his eyes and toothbrush hanging dumbly from his mouth, somehow making him look even hotter.</p><p>Damn the world hated him.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi everyone! I'm blown away by how many people are reading this fic. I really didn't expect many to like it! I hope this next chapter is just as enjoyable!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Chaos is a friend of mine." - Bob Dylan</p>
<hr/><p>Oikawa sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes. A white wall stared back at him. Good. There weren’t any white walls in his dreams. Slowly, he unclenched his teeth, the familiar taste of copper flooding his tongue. Oikawa swallowed thickly, hoping he hadn’t left any visible cuts on his face while sleeping. His grandparents hated when he did. Adjusting so he could bring his hands up, Oikawa sighed. His skin was just as pale and unblemished as it always was when he woke up. The nightmare was just a dream.</p><p>He always had to check for blood though.</p><p>Sitting up, Oikawa yawned and stretched his arms over his head and looked around, blinking slowly. A fog covered his brain, all thoughts coming sluggishly. Wait...this wasn’t his room. </p><p>A light snore came from his right. Oikawa tilted his head toward the sound, his brain trying to piece together what exactly was happening. Another person was still passed out in the bed across the room from him. A thick arm laid over the person’s face, spiky black hair splayed across the pillow. At some point the blanket had been pulled down, the thin black tank-top doing little to hide the toned torso beneath it. </p><p>Damn. </p><p>He’s hot.</p><p>Oikawa closed his eyes and tried to remember the previous day. Bobbing his head to a random tune floating in his mind, he let the morning fog fade away. Waking up was always the worst.</p><p>His eyes snapped back open.</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>Oikawa stared at the other person sleeping only a few feet away from him and groaned. He thought Iwaizumi being his new roommate was some kind of sick new twist for his usual nightmares. No, no, no, this wasn’t good. </p><p>He fell back against his pillows and threw an arm over his face. Why did the world hate him so much! Turning his head, Oikawa peaked out from under his arm at the still peacefully sleeping Iwaizumi and sighed. Sunlight filtered in through the window, softly shining on half his face while the other stayed shrouded in shadow. His usual scowl was gone, ridding him of the creases in his brow. Oikawa smiled, glad Iwaizumi could find peace in sleep. </p><p>Turning his head back to the ceiling, Oikawa took a few deep breaths to prepare for the day, his ribs aching at the movement. Kuroo was supposed to be moving in today, though he was living on some science-based floor in a different dorm. He’d have to go see him and discreetly bring his duffle bag with him. There was no way it could be left in Oikawa’s room. Past Iwaizumi had been, understandably, very against villains, and present Iwaizumi still gave off the same vibe.</p><p>Kuroo would just have to deal with Oikawa coming to his room every night they wanted to go out.</p><p>Grabbing his phone, Oikawa flicked through his notifications until he found a text from the alley cat.</p><p>
  <b>[Kuroo:] My room got changed cause someone set off the sprinklers last night and the school’s using this as a chance to redo the carpeting. Tell ya more later</b>
</p><p>
  <b>[Kuroo:] Also! Bokuto is moving in today too, Akaashi is with him. We should all hang</b>
</p><p>Oikawa rolled his eyes. See, this is why people shouldn’t put a bunch of science nerds on one floor and encourage them. </p><p>He scrolled up to last night's conversation about Daichi and Ushijima. Kuroo apparently knew both of them from volleyball because of course everyone in Oikawa’s life had to play the sport. They’d both been captains and Daichi had a killer receive according to Kuroo, but other than that he didn’t have much new information on either of his neighbors.</p><p>Turning off his phone, Oikawa rolled out of bed and set about gathering everything for his morning routine. Most of his clothes were still in the box, so he grabbed a white t-shirt and dark jeans. Might as well go for a classic look.</p><p>Entering his bathroom, Oikawa heard faint voices coming from the other room. Ah, so their suitemates had finally arrived. He’d talk to them after he put himself together for the day.</p><p>The shower’s warmth and surprisingly decent water pressure helped release the tenseness still remaining from his restless night and Oikawa gave himself a few minutes to relax. Turning around, he observed the contents of the shower caddy. All his products took up the top two baskets and he absolutely refused to listen to any criticism about that. </p><p>He always looked fabulous but it took care and dedication to get to his usual level of perfection. </p><p>Beneath his baskets was one with three bottles and a luffa. He recognized the brand as one he’d recommend for people on a budget so the soap, at least, was respectable. There was no face wash to be seen but well, men. He could live with whoever owned the contents of that shelf. </p><p>Who he couldn’t live with was whoever owned the bottom shelf. Three-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and body wash stared up at him mockingly. Now Oikawa could tell a lot about a person by the kind of soap they used and people with three-in-one usually either didn’t know enough about proper hair and skincare or they were haters. Oikawa closed his eyes and breathed. Maybe he’d get lucky they were the former? Maybe?</p><p>What had he done to this world to deserve this though? </p><p>Speeding through the rest of his shower, Oikawa dried off and threw on his clothes. Iwaizumi was sitting up when he closed the bathroom door and he looked over as he yawned. Oikawa focused on Iwaizumi’s face and grabbed a dry towel to start working on his hair.</p><p>“I don’t know if we can be friends with our suitemates,” he said, pulling out the hair gel and blow dryer. </p><p>“Huh?” Iwaizumi groaned as he slid out of bed and padded toward the sink. Oikawa scooted over so Iwaizumi could grab his toothbrush.</p><p>“At least one of our suitemates is here and they use three-in-one soap. I saw it in the shower and people who use three-in-one soap have obviously never read anything about skin or hair care and men who haven’t can't appreciate me to my fullest,” Oikawa gestured to himself. Iwaizumi stared at him, sleep still fogging his eyes and toothbrush hanging dumbly from his mouth, somehow making him look even hotter.</p><p>Damn the world hated him.</p><p>Oikawa huffed at the other’s blank look. Right. Like Iwaizumi would understand his hesitancy to be around men with zero regard for their own appearance. It wasn’t like Iwaizumi would’ve ever gotten rude comments from the kinds of people who thought he was too pretty to be a boy. There’s a reason he’d always been more popular with their male classmates than Oikawa.</p><p>Iwaizumi removed the toothbrush from his mouth and spit. Standing back up, he opened his mouth and Oikawa readied his argument.</p><p>“Hey! Hey! Hey! Suitemates!” A loud, familiar voice boomed through their room as the door crashed open. Oikawa spun toward the bathroom in time to see none other than Kuroo’s volleyball friend, Bokuto, burst into their room. </p><p>“Bokuto?” Oikawa said, letting his blow dryer fall to his side. He’d met the other boy a few times before, mostly whenever Kuroo dragged Oikawa over to Kenma’s for movie night and Bokuto brought Akaashi over to crash it. Speaking of Akaashi…</p><p>“Bokuto-san, you can’t just barge in,” Akaashi said tiredly, following slowly behind. </p><p>“Oikawa!” Bokuto shouted, ignoring Akaashi’s gentle scolding, slamming into him for a hug. Oikawa gasped a little, the action re-igniting his rib injury, but returning the embrace with a laugh. The other boy stepped back, a huge smile still plastered to his face and some of Oikawa’s anxiety about their suitemates vanished. He and Bokuto had spent several movies talking about and doing each other’s hair. There was no way he used three-in-one soap. Oikawa froze.</p><p>Wait...but if Bokuto didn’t use three-in-one and there were only supplies for three people…</p><p>That only left...</p><p>“Iwa!” </p>
<hr/><p>Oikawa sat on the couch in the rec room, arms crossed with a permanent pout. </p><p>“You can’t stay mad at me all day,” Iwaizumi said from the other end of the couch, grabbing an offered meat bun from Akaashi. The four of them had come to investigate the rec room/lounge after the truly devastating three-in-one soap’s owner reveal. Bokuto and Akaashi had brought meat buns for all four of them because apparently, Bokuto wanted to make a good impression on his new suitemates. </p><p>Oikawa wasn’t about to complain about free breakfast.</p><p>“Try me,” Oikawa took one as well, not missing the small smirk Akaashi gave at his words. The Fukurodani setter left them to check on Bokuto, who was in the process of opening every cabinet in the small lounge kitchenette. Oikawa looked studiously away from them all, flipping through the limited tv channels. </p><p>“It’s just soap,” Iwaizumi tried to reason. Oikawa stopped at a news station and tried to piece together what the current story was about, without turning up the volume. </p><p>“Just looking at it dries out my skin.”</p><p>“That’s what you have moisturizer for, right?” Oikawa whipped his head back around, hand on his heart. That was not the point!</p><p>“Iwa! No! My moisturizer is expensive, I-I-I can’t just go wasting it because your soap stresses me out. You need to get something new, I’ll give you a list. I’m very helpful, Bokuto can vouch for me,” Oikawa pointed toward the kitchenette. Pots crashing to the ground and a hurried “I’m good Akaashi!” was his only reply. Iwaizumi scowled, looking less than impressed.</p><p>“No, I like my soap, Shitty-kawa. It’s cheap and convenient and you won’t convince me otherwise,” he bit into his meat bun, stare hard and challenging. Oikawa blinked at the familiar nickname. It was an awful nickname, all of the ones Iwaizumi came up with were and Oikawa would fight anyone else who even tried to call him it. </p><p>Because no matter how awful it was, it was still Iwaizumi’s nickname for him.</p><p>Oikawa almost forgot he was supposed to be offended. Gasping loudly, he put on his best wounded expression to hide the gleeful spark their banter was kindling.</p><p>“Mean-Iwa, saying bad words. Tch, I’m so disappointed in you,” he shook his head. A small smile quirked up the edge of Iwaizumi’s mouth even as he groaned, but it was quickly covered up with another bite. </p><p>“Someone’s disappointing you? I like them already,” an annoyingly familiar voice said from the door. Oikawa groaned as the biggest disappointment of an alley cat sauntered into the rec room, Daichi and Ushijima right behind him.</p><p>“Kuroo!” Bokuto said, dropping the pots he’d just picked back up. They crashed to the floor again and Oikawa flinched at the sound.  </p><p>“Bro!” Kuroo shouted, catching Bokuto in a hug when he charged him. The two boys crashed to the ground, Ushijima pulling Daichi out of their path just in time. Oikawa stood up,  wincing for Kuroo. There was no way his injuries from Snow weren’t flaring up after that hit. </p><p>They both laughed from the floor, Kuroo a little more breathlessly until Bokuto rolled off him. </p><p>“What’re you doing here, bro?” Bokuto asked, taking Akaashi’s hand to get back on his feet. Oikawa reached out and pulled up Kuroo, letting the taller boy wrap his arm around his shoulders and lean against him. Kuroo shot him a thankful look and turned back to their collection of onlookers. </p><p>“I live here now, isn’t that cool?” He said, grinning.</p><p>“What?!” Oikawa and Bokuto shouted at the same time. Kuroo laughed.</p><p>“Oh yeah, those two are my new suitemates,” he pointed toward Daichi and Ushijima. Oikawa scowled. No. No way. </p><p>The two of them had specifically requested different dorms to keep people from being suspicious in case anyone found out the truth about one of their powers. Both of them could only lie so much about what they could do and it wasn’t like there was an abundance of cat-shifter-wind-manipulator friendships out there. </p><p>And they were surrounded by people who wanted to be actual friends with them and at least two were confirmed to be highly nosey and one was super perceptive. Bokuto had come very close on multiple occasions to figuring out their secret identities and Oikawa didn’t even want to think about how easily Daichi could unravel everything with his ability. </p><p><em> How’s this going to end? </em>The nagging part of his mind asked. Oikawa scowled and pushed it away. This was all going to end just fine, thank you very much brain. They’d figure it out. They always did.</p><p>From the corner of his eyes, Oikawa saw Iwaizumi approach their small circle while Bokuto started hooting about how great their room assignments were. Iwaizumi’s face was impassive but Oikawa had learned long ago how to read him like a book. His eyes were narrowed, scowl set, and his hard gaze focused on him and Kuroo. Or more specifically, the arms wrapped around Oikawa’s neck and Kuroo’s waist.</p><p>Oikawa internally groaned. Iwaizumi had always taken his position as Oikawa’s best friend seriously. How could he have not seen this issue coming yesterday when Iwaizumi tried to say they were still best friends? </p><p>The nagging part of his mind tried to rear its head again but Oikawa quickly squashed it down. </p><p>He’d figure it out. He always did. </p><p>This would all definitely turn out great. </p><p>(As long as he ignored the fact that the world hated his guts.)</p>
<hr/><p>“Take off your shirt.”</p><p>“What? I don’t even get any foreplay? You’re so mean,” Oikawa hopped up to sit on Kuroo’s sink, crossing his arms. The alley cat rolled his eyes and pulled out his abysmal medical kit. </p><p>“Never bothered you before,” he winked, “now off. I know you didn’t check your ribs properly.” Kuroo motioned for him to take off his shirt as he grabbed out a jar of bruise cream and a roll of bandages. </p><p>“Only if you take off your pants,” Oikawa huffed, raising one brow. No way was he going to let Kuroo bandage him up if he didn’t let Oikawa do the same. </p><p>“Now who’s being needy?” Kuroo smirked, revealing his slightly too long canines. Groaning, Oikawa let his head thump against the mirror, glaring at the other boy and glad the others had all decided to go pick up dinner together. The alley cat was impossible. Kuroo held up his hands.</p><p>“Okay, okay, Kenma did check it yesterday though and said I didn’t need stitches,” Kuroo placed the bruise cream and bandages on the counter, hands moving down to take off his pants so Oikawa could see the dirty bandage over the deep gash one of Snow’s arrows had left on his right calf. In return, Oikawa took off his shirt, revealing the purplish-black bruise Anzen left on his side. </p><p>“I poked around and did some breathing exercises so I don’t think anything is broken,” Oikawa said. Kuroo grabbed out the antibiotic ointment and a pair of scissors, handing them to him and lifting his injured leg to rest it next to Oikawa. Taking the ointment, Oikawa got to work unraveling the old bandage and looking over the gash while Kuroo poked at his side. Working in tandem, they smeared ointment and cut bandages until both their wounds were properly assessed and dressed. Oikawa stopped the fabric above where Kuroo’s pant leg cut off and Kuroo made sure his torso wrapping wasn’t bulky enough to see through his usual shirt. </p><p>Revealing injuries to others was the first step in outing themselves, something neither of them wanted to do again, like ever. </p><p>The Kenma incident would have been a disaster if he didn’t think being their behind-the-scenes mastermind could be fun. It was a miraculously good outcome they hadn’t foreseen.</p><p>Neither wanted to test their luck with their new room and suitemates.</p><p>“How’s that feel?” Oikawa asked, patting his handiwork. Kuroo brought his leg back down, testing its weight-bearing capacity, and grinned.</p><p>“Oh, that’s much better, how bout you?” He threw Oikawa his shirt and grabbed his own pants, pulling them on with only a little difficulty. Oikawa twisted as he put his shirt back on, the binding making the ache a little less noticeable. </p><p>“Good,” Oikawa said, hopping off the counter. His reflection in the mirror looked completely normal even as he experimentally stretched and twisted. As long as he didn’t wear anything form-fitting Iwaizumi would never be able to see the bandages. </p><p>While Kuroo put all the supplies back in his med-kit, Oikawa opened his closet and started reorganizing so he could fit his gear inside. Most of the alley cat’s stuff had been placed in boxes, a few pieces of gear mixing in with his normal hanging clothes. Oikawa unfurled his cape and hung it up in the corner next to Kuroo’s shorter one. </p><p>He’d rather be caught red-handed then go out with a wrinkly cape. </p><p>It was a good thing Kuroo hadn’t been assigned a roommate even if it pissed Oikawa off that the alley cat got the place to himself while he had to deal with...whatever was happening in his room. </p><p>Kuroo turned on some science-related podcast to fill the comfortable silence while they waited for the others to return. </p><p>All seven of them had worked away the day, putting together their rooms and chatting with one another. It wasn’t until Bokuto insisted they all get pizza for dinner that most of them decided to take a break. Oikawa and Kuroo both invented reasons for why they couldn’t go with them and ushered everyone else out. </p><p>Having room and suitemates was not conducive to having secret identities. </p><p>“Hey, do you remember that bank heist you started to plan?” Kuroo said, his voice low despite no one else being around. Oikawa nodded. It was one of the larger heists he’d considered, but they’d needed Kenma for it and the other boy had told them no.</p><p>“Well, I talked to Yaku, who talked to Lev, who talked to Kenma who apparently said he wished I played more video games so we could hang out even with the distance,” Kuroo shrugged and held up his hands like anything he said made even the smallest bit of sense. Oikawa had long since given up trying to understand Kenma’s and Kuroo’s relationship. He wasn’t even going to bring up the fact that they only lived thirty-minutes from each other now.</p><p>“And?” he asked, hoping for some other explanation. The bank heist required Kenma's ability to make it worthwhile and their "behind-the-scenes mastermind" had refused to go through with the plan. Apparently, it required too much effort on his part that could be better spent on other activities. </p><p>Kuroo sighed.</p><p>“And, that means Kenma is going to miss me. So if I ask for his help, there is a sixty-four percent chance he won’t blow off the plan in favor of playing video games this time.”</p><p>"Just sixty-four?" Oikawa teased, setting his fans next to Kuroo’s Bo staff against the back wall. </p><p>"Do you want to check my math?" Kuroo pointed to a notebook on his desk. Oikawa rolled his eyes. Trust the alley cat to actually figure out the probability. He pulled out their heist binders and handed them to Kuroo. They contained every plan the two had come up with, all in various stages of completion and neatly organized with colorful post-it notes. Those were the books that could send them to jail if they were ever caught.</p><p>“Soooo...Iwaizumi?” Kuroo asked, moving leisurely over to his dresser. Oikawa groaned and Kuroo held up his hands.</p><p>“Look, I’m just asking cause, well, you know…” he paused biting his lip as he tried to find the right words. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” Kuroo sighed. Oikawa knew Kuroo only had the best intentions when bringing up Iwaizumi, but he didn’t even know what was happening with them. He certainly couldn’t explain it. </p><p>A commotion from out in the hall caught their attention. Giving each other a sideways look, Oikawa pushed the rest of his gear into the closet and slammed the door shut. Kuroo opened the empty bottom drawer of his dresser and tried to shove the binders inside, a few falling out of his hands. </p><p>Bokuto’s loud voice could be heard outside and Oikawa dove toward the dresser to help. </p><p>“Bro?” Bokuto called out, flinging the bathroom door wide open. They both cursed under their breaths and Oikawa was glad Kuroo had decided to use the dresser blocked from view by the sink. Kuroo jumped up so he could be seen, smiling.</p><p>“Got the pizza?” He asked, leaning against the sink while Oikawa tried to quietly close the drawer.</p><p>“Yep! But we can’t find Oikawa, do you know where he is?”</p><p>“Right here!” he said, standing up and trying to ignore his racing heart. Bokuto looked between them for a moment and Oikawa had to fight the urge to run his hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t messy. </p><p>“Oh, cool!” he said, then turned and unlocked Kuroo’s door, opening it to reveal Iwaizumi and Akaashi standing in the hall. “They’re both in here!” he said, pointing toward them. Oikawa smiled brightly and walked out to meet them. </p><p>Akaashi sighed and threw him a knowing look. Huffing, Oikawa narrowed his eyes, daring the other boy to voice whatever he thought had gone on while they’d been out. Just because he and Kuroo used to have that kind of agreement didn’t mean it existed anymore. Kuroo was in a committed relationship now and Oikawa would never allow him to jeopardize it. </p><p>Iwaizumi, for his part, just scowled. </p><p>Maybe Oikawa should say something to stop whatever assumptions were running through Iwaizumi’s head, but also, it could prove useful when trying to explain why he hung out in Kuroo’s room so often. If it blew up in his face then that’d be a problem for a later day. </p><p>“Pizza time?” He asked as Kuroo entered the hall.</p><p>“Daichi and Ushijima have it in the lounge,” Bokuto said, grabbing Akaashi’s wrist and pulling him toward the mentioned room. For a moment, Oikawa wondered if Bokuto remembered Akaashi would have to go home at some point. Oh well, that wasn’t his problem. Shrugging, he followed them, Kuroo and Iwaizumi trailing silently behind. </p><p> </p><p>“Did you two get everything unpacked?” Daichi asked after everyone had grabbed their pizza slices and settled around the room. </p><p>“Yep,” Oikawa said from his spot at the end of the couch. Iwaizumi sat next to him, Akaashi on the other end. Ushijima and Daichi had taken the smaller couch, while Kuroo and Bokuto laid on the floor. </p><p>The news channel hummed lowly in the background. </p><p>“All unpacked here, Captain,” Kuroo said looking up from the toppings trading he and Bokuto were currently engaging in. Daichi opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off by Bokuto.</p><p>“Hey! That new hero and Snow are on! Turn up the TV!” he shouted as he scrambled to a sitting position. Oikawa looked up to see footage of their jewelry shop heist on screen.</p><p>“...it’s been confirmed that Anzen, the new hero seen partnered with Snow, previously worked in the Miyagi Prefecture. The Miyagi Hero Association was unable to provide a comment on why Anzen is now in Tokyo, or if the move is a permanent one.” Oikawa focused on the fight caught by the security tapes and winced when he saw Anzen slam into him again. </p><p>Kuroo had scolded him while they were fleeing for getting so distracted by Anzen, but Oikawa’s only real regret was not anticipating that hit. Anzen was so much more fun to irritate than heroes like the ever composed Snow.</p><p>“Anzen looks so cool,” Bokuto said as the screen switched from the fight footage to a picture of Anzen next to a list of his hero stats. Kuroo whistled lowly and Oikawa had to agree.</p><p>“He can make things out of shadows? Man, that’s so much cooler than me,” Kuroo complained, tossing his head back so he could glance at Oikawa. This was good information. Fighting Tokyo heroes was so much easier than in other places because the media gave out all the information it could get its hands on. Granted, it was so the general population could stay updated on their favorites, but it made a villain’s job so much easier.  </p><p>Maybe he should bring a flashlight to their next outing. </p><p>“What is your ability?” Iwaizumi asked when the news story changed, looking over at Kuroo. His expression was tense and unreadable. The alley cat just grinned and closed his eyes. Opening them he showed off his slit pupils.</p><p>“I can make my eyes cat-like so I can see moderately better in the dark. It’s a fantastic ability when you want a midnight snack and that’s about all it’s helpful for,” Kuroo shrugged and blinked again, letting his eyes go back to their human form. </p><p>Kuroo was just lucky he could choose which cat features he wanted at any point in time. </p><p>“But at least it isn’t as useless as Oikawa’s ability,” he laughed. Oikawa scowled and breathed in, focusing on the way the air moved around his mouth. They might have agreed to not play up each other’s limited abilities but that didn’t mean he could make fun of his without consequence. </p><p>“Take that back or I’ll tell Kenma you broke his Mario Kart game,” Oikawa said in a perfect imitation of Kuroo’s voice. He released his focus on manipulating the movement of the air molecules as Kuroo put his hands up in surrender.</p><p>“I take it back, your ability is cool,” he said to the laughter of their small audience. “What’s your's, Iwaizumi?”</p><p>The two stared at each other challengingly. </p><p>“I can dim lights,” Iwaizumi said, never breaking eye contact with Kuroo. The buzzing lights above them flickered and faded until they were nothing but a faint glow. Oikawa smiled. He remembered when Iwaizumi was afraid of his dimming ability. Kuroo’s eyes flickered back to cat-like and they shined ominously in the dark as they remained fixed on Iwaizumi.</p><p>“Oh! Me next!” Bokuto said, clapping his hands. Oikawa’s eyes immediately snapped toward him as the lights returned to normal. The couch cushions shifted as Iwaizumi leaned back, finally breaking eye contact with Kuroo.</p><p>“I can draw people’s attention to myself,” he said, grinning. “But like, only if I’m in a good mood, and only a few people at a time. It’s not actually that cool but I still like it,” Bokuto added, leaning back on his hands.</p><p>“Hey, that sounds like it could be useful in the right situation,” Daichi said smiling at him. Bokuto’s smile brightened. </p><p>“That’s what Akaashi says too! Oh! Akaashi tell them yours. It’s awesome,” he told them and Oikawa prepared himself to act like it was cool. The truth was, only Bokuto thought Akaashi’s ability was great. Even Akaashi would admit it could probably top a list of most useless abilities if his family didn’t own an owl sanctuary on the outskirts of the city. </p><p>“I can control owl feathers, but only after they’ve fallen off the bird and I have to touch them for it to work,” Akaashi explained. Oikawa looked around to see the polite smiles everyone was giving him. Bokuto clapped quietly, whispering about how awesome Akaashi and owls were.</p><p>“Ok, you two next,” Kuroo pointed to Daichi and Ushijima. They glanced between each other, Ushijima nodding at Daichi.</p><p>“I’m an empath, but don’t worry. I won’t go altering your emotions or reading into anything unless you ask,” Daichi rubbed his neck nervously. Iwaizumi shifted, his brow furrowing. If anyone was worse with emotions than Oikawa, it was Iwaizumi. However, Daichi was nice and had morals according to Kuroo so there was no need to be nervous around him. Cautiously, he leaned closer to Iwaizumi, letting their shoulders touch, unsure how the other boy would react. </p><p>Physical touch had always helped Oikawa and he thought it helped Iwaizumi too, but he’d always been more reserved and they were hardly even friends and-</p><p>Iwaizumi’s tense shoulder relaxed against his and he leaned in as well, cutting off Oikawa’s spiraling thoughts. He kept his gaze fixed on the other couch as part of him wondered if this was okay. </p><p>“I can create small plants,” Ushijima said. A small flower rapidly grew and blossomed from his palm. It was beautiful, so small and delicate in the man’s hand. Kuroo and Bokuto started pestering him with questions. The flower withered and died when Ushijima’s attention was taken away and Oikawa sighed, mourning its loss.</p><p>He knew they couldn’t be like how they were. Like the flower, if he let anything happen between them and he wasn't careful for a single moment everything would crumble. Oikawa knew himself well enough to know letting Iwaizumi closer, no matter how much he wanted to, could only end in disaster.</p><p>But he couldn’t deny the soothing relief of Iwaizumi’s warmth against him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi! </p><p>Ok so I'm not going to lie, this chapter was a little tricky to write and it kept going off on its own tangents, veering way off course from what I had expected. But I think it turned out alright. Bokuto and Kuroo were fun to write and I liked getting to talk about all of their powers because I think they are kinda cool. Yes, Kuroo, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi all try and keep the full scale of their powers a secret in both their civilian and super lives. They all want to keep what they do at night under wraps, Kuroo and Oikawa for obvious reasons, and Iwaizumi so the people he cares about aren't put in danger because of him. </p><p>I hope everyone's characterizations were decent, it gets tricky to keep everyone in line with more people. If you have any suggestions or questions I'd love to hear them! Comments really help me get hyped for writing and to those of you who have commented, please know I basically have everything you've said memorized with the number of times I've reread them. So thank you!</p><p>As always here is the current list of powers as known by Oikawa/Iwaizumi:<br/>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa - Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo - Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Kenma - Tech - Cyberpathy<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting<br/>Daichi - N/A - Empath<br/>Ushijima - N/A - Can grow small plants from his palms<br/>Akaashi - N/A - Can manipulate fallen owl feathers<br/>Bokuto - N/A - Can draw people's attention based on his mood<br/>Mizuki - N/A - Minor Premonition</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Dark Nights</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oikawa had opted to stay in bed all day, a fact not missed by the rest of their friends when he failed to show up for chemistry. Kuroo had fielded most of their questions with an easy grin. It was the least he could do after failing to answer any of Iwaizumi’s questions. </p><p>Speaking of Oikawa, Iwaizumi leaned back in his chair. The bed was empty. Sitting up, Iwaizumi looked around, his eyes falling on a sticky note attached to his lamp. </p><p>Going for a walk, be back soon.</p><p>P.S. Don’t tell Kuroo, he’s so annoying :(</p><p>Iwaizumi snorted. Like Oikawa could talk.</p><p>Looking out the window, Iwaizumi frowned. Night was quickly descending. It wasn’t safe to wander a city alone at night. Iwaizumi knew all too well the monsters lurking in the shadows.</p><p>He grabbed the backpack hidden under his bed and headed out, leaving the door unlocked in case Oikawa forgot his keys. There was no way Iwaizumi could find his roommate in the vast city. But maybe Anzen could.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hope is being able to see that there is light, even despite all the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu</p><hr/><p>
  <em> Iwaizumi Hajime age 13 </em>
</p><p>Nightlights were a Tooru thing.</p><p>Growing up, Hajime was never allowed to use them. His father claimed he didn’t need a light because Iwaizumi men were born of the night and with a family history of Umbrakinesis it wasn’t like he was wrong. So Hajime grew up never knowing he needed to be afraid of the dark or the horrors it hid. After all, he knew the monster lurking within and called him dad.</p><p>When the trial came his mom didn’t want Hajime to know everything his dad did over his nearly ten years as an active criminal. She told him his dad robbed people, though he could have guessed as much from his code-name, ShadowThief. </p><p>Part of him wanted to know everything else his dad was convicted of, what was on the list he hadn’t been allowed to listen to, his mom sending him into the hallway for nearly ten minutes while it was read. He wanted to know so maybe he could convince himself he wasn’t capable of committing the same crimes. </p><p>Most of him though did not want to know because knowing would further cement his understanding of the world. His dad was a thief in the night because he could control the shadows he crept in. He had power over the very thing that made so many afraid and Hajime knew he used it to strike further fear into the hearts of his victims. If he only thought of his dad as a thief, then he could push down the horrible ideas his imagination tried to conjure. His dad’s words, boasting about power and control being what drove him to test out the limits of morality, forced into a box he refused to open. He needed to because it was a power Hajime knew flowed in his own veins. </p><p>Hajime was never scared of the dark, but he was always afraid of what control over darkness would do to him.</p><p>Tooru, on the other hand, was afraid of the dark. During their first sleepover, he cried when Hajime turned off the lights, plunging them into familiar darkness. He quickly turned them back on but it took Tooru almost ten minutes to calm down enough for them to try to go to sleep again. The lamp light stayed on. </p><p>During their next sleepover, Tooru brought over his own nightlight and plugged it in next to Hajime’s dresser. He left it there, saying it was a promise he’d come back. Hajime wasn’t a big fan of sleeping with a light on. How could he be when he’d grown up accustomed to the dark?</p><p>He never once complained about it to Tooru though. Nor did he ever tell him that sometimes, when his thoughts turned bad and Tooru wasn’t around, he turned on the nightlight and let its glow wash away the darkness.</p><p>Because nightlights were a Tooru thing and being within Tooru’s light was the only place Hajime wanted to be. </p><p>It was a month until his fourteenth birthday when the nightlight which safeguarded Hajime’s room for over eight years, finally went out.</p><p>And it was Hajime’s fault.</p><p>He had a headache, the horrible, pounding kind that seemed determined to make every inch of him hurt and couldn’t be helped by anything. His mom kept him home from school, the sunlight piercing into his skull and making him nauseous. He stayed in his dark room and tried to sleep it off. He barely got any rest, pressure building steadily within his head.</p><p>By the evening, Hajime was stuck between burning and freezing, muscles aching, pressure mounting, stomach-churning, and all over in a really bad mood. So when Tooru opened the door Hajime’s first thought was how he really hoped his best friend decided to forgo talking.</p><p>Naturally, he didn’t.</p><p>“Yoo-hoo, Iwa-chan?” Tooru whispered.</p><p>“Hey, Tooru,” Hajime said, his voice rough with disuse. Tooru hovered by the door, his bright eyes reflecting the dim hallway light. </p><p>“Are you okay?” Dumb-kawa asked. Did he look okay? No, he just missed school and volleyball practice to lay in the dark all day because he wanted to. That was such a-</p><p>Hajime gulped and took a deep breath. Tooru was just worried about him, no reason to get upset. His head pounded.</p><p>“I uh...I brought you notes from today…” Tooru trailed off and Hajime could make out the rough outline of a book bag being set against the wall. His voice felt like needles in Hajime’s ears. It wasn’t Tooru’s fault, it wasn’t, but why couldn’t he just leave Hajime alone for once?</p><p>“Do you think it’s your powers?” Tooru asked, opening the door a little wider. A sliver of light fell onto Hajime’s eyes and his head burned. Why, why, why couldn’t Tooru just go away? Couldn’t he see his voice was causing Hajime pain? Didn’t he realize Hajime was in the dark for a reason? Heat built up within him and the pressure made his head want to explode.</p><p>“You know my-”</p><p>“Just shut up!” Hajime shouted, hands clawing at his hair. Something snapped inside him, something dark and angry slotting perfectly into place. Hajime squeezed his eyes closed, copper flooding his mouth as he bit into his lip. He wanted to hit something, hurt something, do anything if it’d just make the pain go away. This was Stupid-kawa’s fault, he made it all worse!</p><p>“Iwa-chan?” Tooru whispered, his voice so small yet it cut through the haze like a knife. Hajime opened his eyes to complete darkness. No light spilled in from the hall, no faint glow from behind his curtains, no bright eyes staring at him from the doorway. There was nothing but the dark and the fear in Tooru’s voice.</p><p>And it was Hajime’s fault it was there.</p><p>Because he knew all this was from his ability finally activating.</p><p>An ability that, by its very nature, could only cause Tooru to be afraid. </p><p>A new pressure, a new heat, built up behind his eyes, replacing what little relief he gained from his outburst. Hajime forced himself to breathe, unclenching his jaw and fists. With every breath, the darkness receded, until Hajime finally felt his ability's grip on the world vanish. </p><p>Tooru stared at him with huge glassy eyes, his hand outstretched, his bright smile nowhere to be found. He looked scared and Hajime's view of the world blurred. </p><p>After eight years of friendship, he finally made Tooru afraid of him. </p><p>"Iwa…" Tooru trailed off, the missing childish honorific felt like a punch to the gut. He...he didn't mean to…</p><p>Hajime wanted to apologize, let Tooru see him cry if it meant he understood that Hajime didn't mean to make him afraid. He...he needed Tooru to know he wasn't like his dad. He wasn't going to use this power to scare and hurt people.</p><p>His brain and heart and mouth all seemed to be on separate pages because what he said was nothing like what he felt.</p><p>"Go away," he said. Tooru's head reared back, his hand falling to his side. Hajime turned over so he didn't have to watch Tooru leave him. </p><p>For a moment, there was silence. </p><p>Every squeak of the floorboards felt like a stab to Hajime's heart. </p><p>Why? Why did he have to get this ability? Why couldn't he have inherited his mom's heightened healing factor?</p><p>He'd only used this ability once and already they'd driven away his best friend. Was he cursed or something? Destined to follow in his dad's footsteps no matter how much he hated them?</p><p>Hot tears tracked down Hajime's face and fell onto his pillow, soaking the fabric. He didn't care. It's not like it mattered. </p><p>The floorboards squeaked again as someone came to stand in his doorway, their body casting a shadow on the wall. He didn't want his mom to see him like this. She was the one who'd dealt with his dad, felt the darkness, and didn't escape unscathed.</p><p>"Go away, mom," he said, hoping she'd listen but also terrified she might also leave him alone. He didn't want to be alone…</p><p>"Mom? Uh uh, Iwa-chan, you're totally the mom-friend between us." Tooru's voice rang in the quiet of his room like a bell, somehow incredibly loud and irritating, but also the most beautiful thing he ever heard. </p><p><em> Click. </em> </p><p>A beam of light fell over Hajime, spilling around him. He squinted his eyes, expecting the light to worsen the dulling headache, but the pain didn't come. Tooru walked into his room, the beam of light following him as he made his way to the dresser. A much softer, more familiar light lit up the room and the beam was turned off with another <em> click. </em></p><p>Slowly, Hajime sat up, scrubbing away the burning tear tracks. His eyes reflexively narrowed at the nightlight’s glow, his head aching a bit. Tooru stepped in front of the light and the pain faded. </p><p>“Is this okay?” Tooru asked, his head tilted to the side and hair falling into his eyes, a flashlight still held aloft in one hand. Hajime nodded and Tooru smiled. A breath he didn’t know he’d been holding left him, and Hajime’s shoulders relaxed. </p><p>Tooru padded toward him and hopped up onto Hajime’s bed, making him scramble back against the headboard. Those wide brown eyes stared at him expectantly, the flashlight held tightly in his lap. Blinking, Hajime tried to figure out what Weird-kawa wanted.</p><p>Sighing dramatically after a few minutes of silence, Tooru crossed his arms.</p><p>“You’re feeling better, right?” he asked.</p><p>“A bit, yeah?” The headache was slowly fading, leaving something dark and scary lurking in his mind. Hajime shied away from it.</p><p>“Then you should practice,” Tooru huffed, leaning closer. Hajime automatically shook his head. No. No way. He was not using his ability again.</p><p>“Uh uh,” he said, crossing his arms as well. Shitty-kawa rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Well you can’t just ignore it, my mom says only super-powerful abilities cause this much pain when they come in. So if you don’t practice then you can’t use it,” Tooru shrugged his shoulders like all this was so simple. But it wasn’t. Why didn’t he understand?</p><p>What if when Hajime used his dad’s ability he became like him?</p><p>Tooru poked his face and Hajime swat away his hand. </p><p>“Why are you being so frowny, Iwa-chan? You have a superpower! How cool is that?” Dumb-kawa stared at him expectantly and Hajime felt a familiar heat bubbling up. </p><p>“No, it’s not! I hate it, okay? It’s not a good superpower….it’s….it's <em> his </em>power and I don’t want it!” Hajime’s voice rose, his teeth clenching together as his fists balled up in his lap. Why didn’t Shitty-kawa get it? His skin felt like it was on fire, the darkness in his head swirling and fanning the flames. Hajime felt it happening, felt his hatred for his ability and his dad and himself rising and he wanted it to stop.</p><p>But he didn’t know if he deserved it.</p><p>He was the one who scared Tooru. He was the one who now had an ability capable of hurting people. He was the one who couldn’t control his own anger, even used it to scare people away. He was the one with the villainous bloodline. How could Tooru ever look at him and say he was a hero when everything said he wasn’t?</p><p>Cool skin touched his fist and Hajime flinched back. The darkness coiling in his mind snapped and he felt it rush through his veins and into the world. Something popped, glass falling to the ground, and Tooru’s breath caught. </p><p>The hand holding his did not leave and Hajime shuddered when soft fingertips brushed away the tears slowly running down his face. He leaned forward until his head rested against Tooru’s shoulder, the hand on his face moving to run through his hair. The feeling was so gentle, so...so Tooru. Hajime’s breath hitched. </p><p>He should be running away. He should be crying or looking at him with fear because of what Hajime did. But it was just like that time, so many years ago, on the swing set. Tooru wasn't afraid of what he could do then, and he wasn’t leaving Hajime now, even though his greatest fear was the dark.</p><p>What did he do to deserve Tooru?</p><p>After either hours or minutes, Hajime picked up his head and blinked away the wetness in his eyes. The flashlight was on again, its bright white light making him squint. </p><p>“Better?” Tooru asked, his hand coming back to rest on his cheek. Hajime leaned into the touch and nodded. </p><p>“You panicked,” Tooru hummed as he brushed away a few more stray tears. </p><p>“Sorry…” Hajime whispered. His face felt hotter with every swipe of Tooru’s thumb, but not in an unpleasant way like earlier. </p><p>“Why are you apologizing?" Tooru's eyebrows scrunched together, head tilting to the side. The flashlight reflected off his brown eyes and Hajime paused to take in their almost night-sky-like appearance. </p><p>So pretty…</p><p>Hajime's cheeks flushed and he pulled back, looking away. His eyes landed on this shadowy dresser and the now unlit nightlight. </p><p>"Did I...?" He whispered. Tooru turned his head back to face him, smiling.</p><p>"That's why you need to practice," Stubborn-kawa said and Hajime sighed. </p><p>"It's not that simple. I-I don't know...I don't want-" </p><p>"To hurt people," Tooru finished for him. </p><p>"Or scare anyone, I don't want to be a monster," the words were barely a whisper on his breath but of course Tooru heard. </p><p>Shitty-kawa laughed lightly.</p><p>"Iwa-chan, listen to me okay?" His other hand came up to lay against Hajime's cheek. He felt vulnerable with his face held so softly, yet with a firm and unyielding grip. But he was safe, it was okay to be vulnerable because it was Tooru.</p><p>"You are a good person, the best person I know, and you could never be a villain like your dad."</p><p>"But-"</p><p>"Uh uh, I think the world would sooner stand still then you do something against your morals," Tooru leaned forward, their foreheads almost touching, breaths intermingling, so close to each other. Close enough so Hajime could feel his sincerity with such choking intensity he almost believed him.</p><p>"I can hurt someone though, or scare them with this power," he said but Tooru was already shaking his head.</p><p>"You won't. I'll help you practice every day until you're as good at it as you are at volleyball."</p><p>"No, no, I already showed you how out of control it can be I broke your nightlight-"</p><p>"You won't hurt me and you won't scare me away. I don't care what you say, Iwa-chan, the two of us are best friends forever and ever. I...I will never leave you," Tooru pushed his forehead against Hajime's like he thought he could force the idea into his head. Hajime pushed back, reveling in the feel of something grounding him.</p><p>The world didn't seem so complicated when it was just the two of them.</p><p>"My mom said that people with really strong abilities often struggle because emotions are usually the activation trigger," Tooru said, pulling back a bit. Hajime lurched forward, eager to keep their contact. Tooru smiled and flopped down onto the bed.</p><p>"What are you...?"</p><p>"She taught me some breathing exercises that are supposed to help. You know, cause my dad has a strong ability and I might get it and all that. I'll show you," he patted the spot next to him, barely enough room for Hajime to lay down on his side.</p><p>Gulping, Hajime lowered himself, unsure how much Tooru wanted them to be touching.</p><p>"Your head goes here, okay?" Tooru patted his chest and Hajime felt his heart speed up. Slowly he placed his head over Tooru's heart and curled his body around the slightly smaller one taking up the majority of his bed. Tooru grabbed the flashlight and pointed it at the far wall, his other hand coming up to card through Hajime's hair.</p><p>"Okay, so, according to my mom, you've gotta focus on your breathing by matching it with someone else's. Breathe in, and you activate your ability, breathe out, and you tell it what to do."</p><p>"I tell it what to do?"</p><p>"Yeah, like, tell it to dim the flashlight in your head or something. I don't know! I don't have an ability yet," Tooru huffed. Hajime chuckled. </p><p>Letting the room settle into silence, he tried to focus on the movement of Tooru's breathing and match his own to its steady rhythm. Loud-kawa's heartbeat drummed in his ear, weirdly soothing in how it kept messing up his focus. </p><p>Annoying-kawa was the same all the way to his very core.</p><p>As his breathing leveled, the dark feeling in his head settled down. It didn't seem so scary like this. Closing his eyes Hajime slowly reached toward the pool of darkness.</p><p>Breathe in.</p><p>It reacted to his touch, rushing up to embrace him and flowing through his veins. His heart beat faster as every limb seemed to tingle with power. Tooru tugged lightly at his hair. Right, dim the flashlight.</p><p>The ability curled within him for a moment, poised like a snake.</p><p>Dim the flashlight but don't break it like the nightlight. </p><p>Breathe out.</p><p>Like a sigh, the power dancing in his veins slipped away from him and into the world. Tooru's heartbeat spiked and Hajime opened his eyes. </p><p>It was dark again. Hajime let go of his ability letting it snap back into him, leaving him breathless. </p><p>"Bad-Iwa! Why did you do that? You were doing great!" Shitty-kawa complained, poking the top of his head. Hajime batted his hand away and scowled. </p><p>"I made it all dark even though I told it to just be dim," he said. </p><p>"And?"</p><p>"And? You're afraid of the dark!"</p><p>"Well yeah, but…"</p><p>"But nothing."</p><p>"But everything! I don't care if I'm afraid of the dark because I'm going to help you figure this out. Heroes don't quit Hajime, and neither do you." Stubborn-kawa said and Hajime knew it was fruitless to argue with him further. He didn't really want to in the first place. If helping Hajime was the hill Tooru wanted to die on, well, then Hajime wouldn't let him die but he would take his help. After all, no one could practice until perfection like Tooru.</p><p>Still, there was one question burning in his head.</p><p>"How do you know I won't hurt anyone?"</p><p>"Gosh Iwa-chan, you can be so stupid sometimes, you know?" He could practically hear Tooru rolling his eyes, his shoulder sagging dramatically with his sigh.</p><p>"That's rude, Shitty-kawa."</p><p>"It's the truth! I know you won't hurt anyone cause you feel safe. You've always felt safe, and well, safe people can't hurt the people they're protecting."</p><p>"That's not-"</p><p>"I'm not listening to you, Iwa-chan, nopity, nope, ack!" Tooru yelped as Hajime scooped him up and rolled them over so they swapped places, laughing.</p><p>"Iwa!" Tooru pouted but Hajime ignored him and buried his head in his shoulder. He didn't know if this was okay, but...but Tooru always said physical touch made him feel better right? And right now it felt like holding Tooru was the only thing keeping Hajime falling into the abyss in his head where he shoved all the thoughts he didn't want.</p><p>Tooru shifted, placing his chin on top of Hajime's head and wrapping his arms more firmly around him. </p><p>Just like Hajime did for him whenever Tooru complained about a nightmare or said he just needed a hug. Now, at least, they were comfortably in Hajime's bed instead of a futon on the floor.</p><p>The flashlight still lit up the room, it's bright white light so different from the soft glow of Tooru's nightlight. </p><p>A nightlight he sat beside for so many nights, not because he liked it, but because Tooru promised as long as Hajime had it, he would always come back.</p><p>A nightlight he broke with his dad's villainous ability.</p><p>"Iwa-chan?" Tooru mumbled.</p><p>"Yeah, Tooru?"</p><p>"Stop thinking," he said and Hajime stifled a laugh. Only Shitty-kawa would tell him that.</p><p>Hajime smiled and pulled Tooru a little closer, closing his eyes. Tooru told him he didn't need to worry about the broken light. They didn't need a promise on a nightlight to always come back to each other. </p><p>Tooru promised he would never leave Hajime and that meant, no matter what his swirling thoughts said, everything would be okay.</p><p>(So why did he never make the same promise?)</p><hr/><p>*****</p><hr/><p>
  <em> One month after the beginning of the semester </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Iwaizumi had exactly three hours of sleep to his name when Oikawa blow-drying his hair woke him up. </p><p>Now, this shouldn’t be surprising, but much to Iwaizumi’s <em>displeasure</em>, it was. Because Oikawa hadn’t slept in their room last night which meant he shouldn’t be back until seven-thirty. </p><p>It was five in the morning. There was still another hour before Bokuto was scheduled to come bounding into the room asking if he wanted to go for a run.</p><p>He would've told Bokuto no, he wanted to sleep off his bad mood. Ever since his argument with Snow three days ago, nightmares had plagued him, leaving him with little rest and even less patience. Oikawa's commitment to sleeping in Kuroo's room all week only worsened his inability to sleep.</p><p>But now he was in their room again, far earlier than he should be. Iwaizumi groaned as he rolled over, blinking at the harsh sink light. </p><p>“Sorry,” Oikawa whispered, turning off the blow dryer and leaning against the counter. His hair was still slightly wet. Iwaizumi rubbed his eyes, brow furrowing and mind trying to comprehend what he was seeing.</p><p>Oikawa looked a mess.</p><p>And that was saying something. Oikawa perfected the messy look when they were twelve. But this was far from the neatly messed up wavy hair and casually ruffled clothes.</p><p>"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting up. Oikawa looked up at him with tired eyes, a small placating smile tugging at his lips. Iwaizumi hated that smile. It meant whatever Oikawa was about to say was a lie.</p><p>"I'm fine, go back to sleep," he said. Liar. </p><p>Iwaizumi opened his mouth to contradict him but was cut off by someone pounding at their door. Sighing, Oikawa pushed himself off the counter and threw the door open to reveal a glaring Kuroo.</p><p>“You left,” Kuroo accused. Oikawa shrugged.</p><p>“I needed a shower,” he said, running a hand through his wet hair. </p><p>“You can’t just leave like that though, not after last-” Kuroo paused and glanced at Iwaizumi, his eyes narrowing. They stared at each other until a humorless laugh reclaimed their attention. Oikawa was leaning back against the sink again, his head tilted back against the glass. </p><p>“He gets nightmares too, Kuroo-chan, no need to act so secretive,” Oikawa said dismissively. Heat rose to Iwaizumi’s cheeks. He didn’t know Oikawa picked up on his nightmares. </p><p>“Pot meet kettle,” Kuroo growled, crossing his arms. He sighed and looked back at Iwaizumi. “Will you keep an eye on this idiot for me? Make sure he gets some sleep.” Oikawa squawked at Kuroo’s request. Grinning at his reaction, Iwaizumi hopped out of bed.</p><p>“So mean! I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need any more sleep, I’m a capable-ack!” Oikawa yelped as Iwaizumi and Kuroo both looped an arm around him, an understanding passing between them. They hauled Oikawa to his bed and deposited him among his constellation comforter. </p><p>Oikawa might not see how awful he looked but they could. For the first time since meeting Kuroo, Iwaizumi felt a sense of solidarity in keeping Oikawa healthy with the taller man. </p><p>He still didn’t like him though. </p><p>“Stay.” Kuroo commanded, Iwaizumi backing him up with a warning glare. Oikawa huffed, muttering about mean friends as he pulled his blanket over his head. Chuckling, Kuroo stepped back and turned to Iwaizumi. He opened his mouth, then closed it, frowning deeply.</p><p>“I’ll be back later,” he said. That wasn’t enough. Iwaizumi wanted to know why Oikawa looked like he spent the night crying. If it was in any way Kuroo’s fault…</p><p>“What happened?” he whispered, catching Kuroo’s arm. The taller man looked down, glaring at the touch. </p><p>“He had nightmares, you can relate can’t you?” Kuroo asked, tugging his arm away. He left Iwaizumi standing in the middle of the room in silence. Why would no one give him a straight answer?</p><p>Crawling back into bed, Iwaizumi stared at the lump of Oikawa and resigned himself to waiting for his alarm to go off. There was no way he could possibly go to sleep now. </p><p>Questions without answers swirled in his head. Everything would be so much easier if only Oikawa would talk to him, really talk to him. Instead, he rarely had a moment alone with him.</p><p>His roommate was always everywhere and anywhere and never where Iwaizumi wanted him to be. Oikawa always woke up and left before he did, either for class or to hang out in the lounge with one of their friends and that was if he even slept in their room. Kuroo never received a roommate and Oikawa was taking advantage of it.</p><p>They had two classes together, Chemistry and Modern Japanese History, but everyone was in the former with them and Bokuto was in the latter which made being alone together hard. Even catching Oikawa studying alone was a rare occurrence. The few times he did, Kuroo wandered in mere minutes later.</p><p>Kuroo really pissed Iwaizumi off.</p><p>All he wanted to do was talk about everything still between them.</p><p>Yet Oikawa seemed to go out of his way to avoid being alone with him. It wasn’t like he gave Iwaizumi the cold shoulder, they bickered and argued like old times at least three times a week. They sat next to each other on the couch during weekend movie nights, Oikawa even leaning into him on occasion. Iwaizumi caught Oikawa staring at him the nights he slept in their room, before he rolled over and the chance for conversation passed. They were friends, but not ones who could talk seriously to each other.</p><p>No matter how much he wanted to really talk to Oikawa, he also knew doing so before the other was ready would only end in disaster.</p><p>He’d learned that lesson the hard way.</p><p>Rolling onto his back, Iwaizumi tried to clear his mind of Oikawa.</p><p>The only person more annoying than Oikawa barrelled in to take his place.</p><p>Despite encountering Kaze and Nebo six times in the month he’d been in Tokyo, neither were behind bars. The methods and skills Iwaizumi honed and perfected throughout his hero career just didn’t work on the pair. </p><p>In Miyagi, most criminals or villains would surrender fairly quickly after he showed up. None of them were powerful enough to truly go toe-to-toe with him. If they didn’t, Iwaizumi trained extensively to disarm and restrain. Despite wielding a sword, he never inflicted more than minor or superficial injuries on an opponent. He was known throughout Miyagi for having a record devoid of blood and he was proud of it. </p><p>The Tokyo villains did not adhere to this policy. Kaze and Nebo were easy compared to many of the other villains, who opted to fight over fleeing. The pair had nothing on the viciousness of some fellow villains. </p><p>Iwaizumi knew the names of several medical first responders due to the number of injuries he sustained in the past month. Snow tried to convince him to change his ways. He didn’t know how to explain he couldn’t.</p><p>No one could exactly complain though, his methods still worked, albeit not quite as effectively. Within the month, he caught three verified villains and stopped a dozen petty crimes. His record remained clean in his eyes. </p><p>The only pair his methods didn’t work on, was Kaze and Nebo. It really pissed him off.</p><p>But what was somehow worse, were the increasingly long stretches of time between sightings. Whenever he had a spare moment, and when he was trying to distract himself from Oikawa, Iwaizumi would study all the known crimes of Kaze. Sure, Nebo was his partner, but Kaze was the crux of their operation. If Iwaizumi could just figure out a way to take him down, they’d fall apart and two villains would be off the street. </p><p>Snow warned him not to get too focused on Kaze when he told him about his research. The villain was a thief but he never showed the same proclivity for killing that others did. </p><p>Why didn’t he understand it didn’t matter? Thefts could go wrong and no matter the original intent, people could be killed. </p><p>Nightmares plagued him since the conversation reopened the box of memories three days ago.</p><p>Now he knew Oikawa had also been dealing with nightmares recently. It was a sobering thought. Iwaizumi only had his imagination and guilt to fuel his dreams, Oikawa was there that night. </p><p>If he relived an event like that, he’d probably look rough as well. </p><p>His alarm clock going off broke Iwaizumi out of his hazy thoughts. Rolling out of bed, he glanced at the still unmoving Oikawa-lump. Hopefully, he was finally getting some sleep. Iwaizumi slipped into the bathroom, determined to let him rest for as long as possible.</p><hr/><p>The door was unlocked when Iwaizumi got back to the dorm after class. Cautiously, he opened it, eyes scanning the dark room. Sensing nothing off, he walked over to his desk and slid into the chair, setting his bag next to him. Classes today were rough.</p><p>Oikawa opted to stay in bed all day, a fact not missed by the rest of their friends when he failed to show up for chemistry. Kuroo fielded most of their questions with an easy grin. It was the least he could do after failing to answer any of Iwaizumi’s questions. </p><p>Speaking of Oikawa, Iwaizumi leaned back in his chair. The bed was empty. Sitting up, Iwaizumi looked around, his eyes falling on a sticky note attached to his lamp. </p><p>
  <em> Going for a walk, be back soon. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> P.S. Don’t tell Kuroo, he’s so annoying :( </em>
</p><p>Iwaizumi snorted. Like Oikawa could talk.</p><p>Looking out the window, Iwaizumi frowned. Night was quickly descending. It wasn’t safe to wander a city alone at night. Iwaizumi knew all too well the monsters lurking in the shadows.</p><p>He grabbed the backpack hidden under his bed and headed out, leaving the door unlocked in case Oikawa forgot his keys. There was no way Iwaizumi could find his roommate in the vast city. But maybe Anzen could. </p><hr/><p>Police cars screamed to a halt as Iwaizumi secured shadow handcuffs on Shifter, a low-level villain he found attempting to break into a convenience store. The man was a pain with his ability to alter his appearance, but not hard to take down. </p><p>He still took time away from Iwaizumi’s real patrol goal.</p><p>Ignoring the man’s ramblings on payback, Iwaizumi hauled him to his feet and outside to the waiting officers.</p><p>“You’ll regret this! I’ll be back and then all of you will know the name Shifter!” The villain shouted.</p><p>“I doubt you’ll even make the morning news,” Iwaizumi said dismissively, shoving him into the back of a cruiser. Slamming the door shut, he turned away, not even giving Shifter a second thought. He still needed to find Oikawa. Maybe he should check the dorm again...</p><p>Iwaizumi tensed. Eyes were on him and they didn't belong to the police or reporters. Glancing past the flashing lights, Iwaizumi saw a familiar figure several stories above, their grey cape fluttering in the wind. </p><p>Kaze.</p><p>"Are we done here?" He asked. The lead cop looked surprised at his question and nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, thanks for the-" Iwaizumi didn't hear what else he said, already taking off for the building across the street. Oikawa knew the city. He was probably back in the dorm.</p><p> Shadowy stairs coalesced within the dark side alley, and Iwaizumi took them two at a time, ignoring how his lungs burned and his muscles ached. His already long night didn’t matter if Kaze was roaming the streets. Jumping over the dividing wall, Iwaizumi landed in a crouch and took in his surroundings. </p><p>The rooftop was empty. Iwaizumi stood, closing his eyes as he tried to feel for any movement in the shadows. Wind gently stirred the few pieces of stray trash littering the rooftop but otherwise, everything was still. Leaning back against the dividing wall, Iwaizumi sighed. Maybe Snow was right and he was getting too obsessed with catching Kaze.</p><p>"I gotta say, I’m impressed," a voice said from behind him. Iwaizumi whipped around, sword materializing in his hands. Kaze stood on the parapet, cape flapping gently in the wind. Lifting his sword, Iwaizumi readied himself for a fight.</p><p>He should have called Snow for backup.</p><p>"What do you want Villain?” Iwaizumi growled, his eyes tracking every small movement. Kaze grinned and elegantly sat down on the parapet, one leg propped up next to him, the other lightly tapping the rooftop. </p><p>“Aw Anzen, I thought we were past those boring nicknames,” Kaze titled his head back to look down at the cops still loading Shifter into the cruiser, his foot tapping faster. Iwaizumi glared at him and raised his sword. If the thief wanted to talk, fine, but he wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of participating. </p><p>Kaze sighed, his shoulders slumping and foot stilling. The cape curled around him, drowning him, his usually perfect outfit was wrinkled like it wasn't sitting correctly. For the first time since meeting him, Kaze looked small.</p><p>“Do you ever wonder why they do it?” Kaze asked, paying the sword no interest. If Iwaizumi hadn’t spent the last month hunting down the individual seated in front of him, watching as Kaze terrorized businesses across the city, he would’ve thought he was talking to someone who cared about others. But no, Kaze was the same as all other villains, no matter his tone or appearance. This conversation was just another ruse to get him to let his guard down. Iwaizumi didn’t answer and Kaze lazily turned his head back around to stare at him.</p><p>“No? Well, that’s disappointing.” Sighing again, Kaze hopped up to balance atop the parapet, wobbling unsteadily. Iwaizumi took a step forward, ready to lunge at a moment's notice. Wind swirled around him, catching hold of the gray cape and tugging its master back to safety.</p><p> Kaze’s voice sounded different, lacking the usual mocking edge Iwaizumi associated with him. There was a genuine aspect to it like he really was disappointed.</p><p>Iwaizumi watched as he teetered on the edge of a twelve-story building, only the wind under his command keeping him from taking a plunge. Kaze was always one for the dramatics, the distracting conversations, but this felt different. </p><p>“I don’t have to wonder, I know why you do it,” he said and Kaze twisted back around to face him. For a moment, he looked surprised.</p><p>Then he started to laugh.</p><p>“I didn’t know you could make jokes handsome,” Kaze said, his smile sharp. Iwaizumi frowned.</p><p>“I’m not,” he growled, annoyed with the whole situation. He should attack now, disrupt whatever was going on in Kaze’s head, and finally put a stop to him. </p><p>But the differences in how Kaze was acting made him pause. This wasn't the annoyingly confident thief he'd come to know. This was a man teetering on the edge of existence, acting with dangerously reckless abandon. </p><p>The whole situation reminded him of a villain from Miyagi he fought five times in the span of one month. He was good at evading him, but every time they met he became more frantic, more agitated. Until one hot summer night when they too met on a rooftop. Iwaizumi hadn't been able to entice them back from the edge; words were never his strong suit. </p><p>But he trained to make up for it with his physical prowess. When the villain tried to jump, Iwaizumi was there, pulling him back. The man cried in his arms until the police arrived, telling him all the financial issues his family ran into lately. </p><p>It was the first time he talked to someone ready to end it all. The experience was a sobering reminder of the many different avenues there were to become a villain.</p><p>Kaze's change in tone and actions reminded him of the man that night. Iwaizumi still didn't know the right words to say, he readied himself to do what he was good at. </p><p>Loathe as he was to admit it, a small part of him wished Kaze would laugh normally, say all his weirdness of the night was a joke to throw Iwaizumi off, and then just leave. Exhaustion still pulled at his muscles and he could feel his control wavering. All he wanted to do was find Oikawa and go back to the dorm. This wasn’t a good time to encounter an unstable Kaze.</p><p>It didn’t matter though, it couldn’t matter. He was a hero and saving people was his job. Even if the person he was saving happened to be a villain he hated. Kaze wasn't the same as that man, he never showed the signs of a desperate person just trying to feed his family. Which put him firmly in the other, far worse, camp of villains. Even so, if he needed saving from himself, Anzen would be there for him. Besides, in this situation, helping Kaze was synonymous with catching him. </p><p>He just wished his sleepless nights didn’t coincide with the apparent mental breakdowns of those around him. First Oikawa, now Kaze. He just wanted to sleep.</p><p>“No, you are. Wanna know how I know that?” Kaze said, taking out one metallic fan. He jumped down from the parapet, masked eyes fixed on Iwaizumi. “I know because you are a hero and all heroes are the same. Blind, arrogant, showing off like you’re better than everyone else,” Kaze waved his fan, sending a windy vortex toward Iwaizumi. </p><p>The trick wouldn’t get him again. Shadows reared up in front of him and the wind crashed into the manifested wall. Releasing it, Iwaizumi charged forward with a cry, sword slicing through the air. Kaze wasn’t there.</p><p>Cursing, Iwaizumi tried to search through the shadows and sky. Kaze never attacked first. Iwaizumi tried not to think of what Kaze could do if he really unleashed his ability. He needed to find him and end this, fast.</p><p>“Villains like you do this for the power rush you get when breaking the rules,” he said, hoping to entice Kaze back into sight. A whoosh of air was his only warning. Wind slammed into his back and sent Iwaizumi sprawling. </p><p>He flipped over, trying to catch his breath.</p><p>Kaze stood several feet away, laughing lightly.</p><p>“The power rush it gives me? What about heroes? At least I don’t pretend I’m a goodie-two-shoes when I hurt people, when I almost kill them,” his voice was like venom, fan raised for another attack. Iwaizumi leaped at Kaze, using the shadows as a springboard. They crashed into each other and Iwaizumi smacked the fan out of Kaze’s hand. </p><p>It clattered to the concrete as they hit the ground rolling. </p><p>What the fuck was Kaze on about? Heroes didn’t kill people nor did they hurt them on purpose. Iwaizumi especially tried to avoid it whenever possible. </p><p>Kaze tried to elbow him in the face, but he caught the arm and slammed it down. Throwing one leg over the villain’s thrashing body, Iwaizumi pinned him and brought both hands up over Kaze’s head. </p><p>“Stop moving!” he growled, leaning down. Kaze smirked.</p><p>“Try and make me,” he bucked his hips, nearly throwing Iwaizumi off but he held firm and slammed him back onto the concrete. Kaze hissed between his teeth, his grin never fading. “Come on Hero, hurting people is all you’re good at,” he spat. Iwaizumi knew he was being bated but he couldn't help the anger flowing through his veins.</p><p>“I don’t hurt people unless they force me to.” How dare this...this villain talk like he knew anything about him. Iwaizumi was careful, he paid attention to his enemies. He made sure he only left them with superficial injuries. He trained for years on how to use his ability and strength to pin people down and capture them. </p><p>Shadows crept over his hands and wrapped around Kaze’s wrists. The villain glared up at him and breathed out.</p><p>A burst of wind slammed into Iwaizumi's chest and ripped Kaze from beneath him. Slowly, they both stood. Kaze’s expression was twisted into one of loathing and Iwaizumi was glad he couldn’t see his eyes beneath the mask. In all the times they’d fought, he’d never seen the other so manic.</p><p>It was terrifying.</p><p>“Is that what you tell yourself every morning? That you had to or didn’t mean to hurt them? Tell that to your friends and family to justify what you do to them?” Kaze snarled.</p><p>
  <em> “Go home Shitty-kawa!”  </em>
</p><p>The words crashed into Iwaizumi unrestrained. Words he locked up for so long. Iwaizumi closed his eyes as his ability swirled wildly within him.</p><p>No. No, he didn’t hurt Tooru, not like Kaze was implying. Tooru told him he didn’t have to hurt people. And he hadn’t! It wasn’t his fault, his mom said it wasn’t his fault because how...how was he supposed to know?</p><p>But then why were his last words to him from that night coming to mind?</p><p>Iwaizumi jerked his head up, panting from the exhaustion warring with his spiking adrenaline and anger. How did that no good thief know what to say to distract him? </p><p>No one knew about his past and certainly, no one should know about his involvement in the events of that night. So how did he know which buttons to push?</p><p>For the first time in many years, Iwaizumi felt his control slipping. Maybe saving Kaze from himself wasn't the goal of the night.</p><p>“Ooo, did that sting?” Kaze mocked, venom still lacing his tone. “Gonna prove me right? Here, I’ll make it easy and force you.”</p><p>He lunged forward, whipping out his second fan. Iwaizumi’s ability went on autopilot, daggers materializing from the shadows. Shooting toward Kaze, Iwaizumi saw the fan come down as his wall came up. Those daggers never worked against Kaze before, his wind or his armor always stopped them, but he needed time. Iwaizumi braced for the windy impact, trying to shake off the memories clawing at him. </p><p>A moment passed.</p><p>And then another.</p><p>No blast of wind came. </p><p>A small gasp was the only sound in the quiet night.</p><p>Iwaizumi felt like throwing up.</p><p>Something hot and wet seeped into the shadows under his control. The phantom feel of blood slid over his entire body. Iwaizumi breathed in, yanking his ability from the world. He fell to his knees, gasping, his skin crawling. </p><p>“Shit,” Kaze breathed out. Iwaizumi looked up at him, eyes widening. His hand was pressed against his side, a red stain quickly spreading beneath it. </p><p>No…</p><p>How? Kaze was supposed to have armor there. He was supposed to blow the daggers away. It's how he reacted every other time he used the move against him.</p><p>But Iwaizumi had never worried about his control during a fight before. </p><p>Kaze laughed, the mad air about him gone. He seemed to sag back into himself, clothes hanging oddly. Iwaizumi now noticed it was because they were too big, the armor he was supposed to have on beneath wasn't there.</p><p>“Ha..ah ha, you actually did it,” Kaze’s masked eyes met his own and what little air he had left him. The villain was smiling even as blood dripped onto the concrete. He needed a doctor.</p><p>Iwaizumi stumbled to his feet. This was his fault (was it his fault?) and he needed to help fix it. </p><p>“K-... Nebo is gonna be pissed,” Kaze stumbled back, knees hitting the wall. Iwaizumi took a step toward him, hand outstretched. </p><p>“Thanks,” Kaze said, making him pause. </p><p>“Why?” Iwaizumi whispered, head trying to wrap around everything that happened since he got on the roof. When did it all go so wrong? Why was he so bad with words? </p><p>Kaze tilted his head.</p><p>“For proving me right about heroes. I was beginning to think you actually meant what you said.” </p><p>He closed his eyes, a peaceful smile gracing his lips. </p><p>Iwaizumi leaped forward as the other leaned back. Please don't let him fail again tonight.</p><p> His fingers barely missed the front of Kaze’s bloodied outfit. </p><p>He watched as the villain fell. The grey cape fluttered around him in the wind as every second he raced closer to the unforgiving street, Iwaizumi helpless to do anything but watch. He was never able to create a shadow structure fast enough to help a falling victim. </p><p>No matter how much he hated Kaze, he didn’t want him to die. There was nothing he could do though. Iwaizumi closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Heart beating wildly in his chest, he opened his eyes, preparing himself to see a grey-clad splatter on the pavement.</p><p>Kaze was nowhere to be seen. A soft wind ruffled Iwaizumi’s hair as he sank to his knees. He wasn’t dead. Kaze was injured because of Iwaizumi but he wasn’t dead. </p><p>He’d failed Tooru, but at least Kaze wasn’t dead.</p><p>Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around himself, wishing more than anything that it was Oikawa holding him close as he did all those years ago.</p><p>But they didn’t have that kind of relationship anymore. He knew a month ago it wouldn’t be easy for them to regain their old level of trust. Now, he didn’t even know where Oikawa was.</p><p>A sob caught in his throat as the events of the night crashed into him. He let the tears flow.</p><p>After all, there was no one around to see him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi everyone!</p><p>Sorry this took so long to post, I meant to have it up last week but I had to get ready for this semester (my last undergrad semester!!) and time got away from me. I hope this extra-long chapter makes up for it? Not gonna lie, I struggled a bit with this chapter because my brain kept wanting to write angst and I had to keep trying to reel it in to fit with everything else I've written. I hope I did ok. Please let me know if anything in this chapter seems off. </p><p>I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, theories, or criticisms you may have!!</p><p>P.S. If you want some really good one IwaOi one-shots, I highly recommend anything by Lineal. I love all of their Haikyuu writing!</p><p>As always here is the current list of powers as known by Oikawa/Iwaizumi:<br/>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa - Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo - Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Kenma - Tech - Cyberpathy<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting<br/>Daichi - N/A - Empath<br/>Ushijima - N/A - Can grow small plants from his palms<br/>Akaashi - N/A - Can manipulate fallen owl feathers<br/>Bokuto - N/A - Can draw people's attention based on his mood<br/>Mizuki - N/A - Minor Premonition</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Monsters in Our Heads</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"Do you two have any pain meds?" he asked, removing the cloth over the wound. Kuroo glanced between them and Oikawa could only shrug. This wasn't what he expected when the pair entered his room.</p>
<p>"Uh...I have alcohol?" Kuroo said, stepping over to the spare dresser.</p>
<p>"Is that legal?" Daichi asked, turning his disapproving stare on Kuroo. The alley-cat rubbed his neck and Oikawa could practically see the various responses and scenarios running through his head. </p>
<p>"No?" he replied, more of a question than an answer, while shifting nervously and if Oikawa wasn't so worried about the disappointed look being turned on him again he would've laughed.</p>
<p>"I can make some tea," Ushijima offered from the doorway. </p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“We stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realized they were inside of us.”</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>There is beauty in falling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa smiled as he tipped backward, away from the roof’s grounded safety. Someone reached for him, their fingers barely grazing his bloodied shirt. Anzen’s wide, masked eyes stared at him as he tumbled over the edge into a starless city night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's easy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A sense of weightlessness drags him down. Gravity tugged mercilessly against the whipping wind and Oikawa let it take him. The sweet embrace of mortality never failed to send a shiver down his spine.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Above him, quickly becoming smaller and smaller, stood Anzen. Not even the burning in his side could stop the hero’s horrified expression from being seared into his head. No one but Kuroo ever reacted in such a way to him taking a dive off a roof. Certainly, no hero had dropped their guard so completely just to approach him with an outstretched hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heroes should know better.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wind tore at his cloak, its howling cries blotting out the city sounds rattling in his skull. Blinding colors flashed past his vision, the bright city lights overtaking the dark night sky reflected in the building’s windows as he plummeted closer to the unforgiving street.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For everyone else, there’s only one possible outcome of his actions. Oikawa smiled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Falling is beautiful because it makes flying all the more freeing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wind snapped around him, tugging him out of his plummet to the street as it always does. It pulled him down dark alleys and around gleaming buildings toward his destination. Oikawa breathed deeply, reveling in the weightless exhilaration of flying and letting the biting air erase all thoughts from his mind. The wind knew who to take him to on these sorts of nights. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Light pollution blotted out the stars above Tokyo as he raced beneath the sky toward the dorm. His side burned, the night breeze doing little to cool the pain lancing through him. Damn. Who knew those daggers could hurt so much?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why did he have to be so stupid?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kuroo is gonna be so pissed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then again Kuroo was usually pissed at him about something. He only regretted giving the alley cat a reason to practice his stitches. Well, that and Anzen’s eyes. Oikawa shuddered as he remembered the hero’s look of shock and pain at the words he'd spoken. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Honestly, he didn’t expect such a reaction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sure, it's easy to rile the other guy up but he always kept his emotions in check, restrained. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Oikawa broke him. What he should really be honest about is how lucky he was to get away with only a stab wound. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blood kept dripping past his fingers onto the busy streets below. The pain lancing through his side ripped through his thoughts, offering the clarity he’d gone searching for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now it’s just annoying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wind slowed as they reached the dorms, Kuroo’s window coming into view. It was open, a sure sign Kuroo knew he’d gone out. Checking the ground to make sure no one was around, Oikawa let the wind bring him to the window ledge. Kuroo opened his window fully before he could even knock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Have a good time?” he asked, leaning back in his chair. Oikawa sat down on the windowsill and threw his legs onto the desk inside. The alley cat’s grin slid off his face when he saw the red stain ruining his shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit,” he breathed and Oikawa laughed breathlessly. Black spots danced across his vision now that he needed to move. Pain pulsated in tune with his every heartbeat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swayed getting off the desk, Kuroo scooping him off his feet bridal-style.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Someone's been working out," Oikawa said, poking Kuroo's chest as his head lolled against it. The alley cat dumped him on the spare bed with a glare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Someone has to deal with your dumbassery. What the hell did you do?" He helped Oikawa sit up and unclasp his ruined cape. "And where is your armor???" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa laughed humorlessly. "I think I broke Anzen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kuroo swore and went to grab the medkit, leaving Oikawa to struggle to get his shirt and utility belt off by himself. His whole torso ached, pain flaring through him when he flopped back against the spare bed. Breathing hurt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Damn, Anzen got him good. Ha, well what should he expect? All heroes ever did is hurt people and get praised for it. Anzen wasn’t any different. He was probably bragging to all his hero buddies that he managed to stab the infamous Kaze. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The memory of his face froze the runaway thoughts in their tracks. Even with Anzen’s eyes covered by a mask, Oikawa could see the pain and horror stabbing him inflicted on the hero. He'd dropped his shield, without waiting to see if his enemy really was down. He'd fallen to his knees when he realized what he’d done.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those weren’t the actions of someone who’d gloat about what happened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Part of him concluded that because of Anzen's relative youth he hadn’t dealt with the shock of hurting a villain. If so, then this was just the beginning and Oikawa had finally given him a taste for blood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It couldn’t be true though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He and Kuroo researched Anzen extensively, especially when it became obvious the hero had it out for them. From the first google search, they knew Anzen was experienced, his record stretching almost as far back as their own. A record somehow clean of scandal and shady press. No one had a bad word to say about him, including most of the criminals he caught in Miyagi. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Anzen didn’t make sense. He acted like a good hero but those didn’t exist. Oikawa’s family proved that fact every day. Hero’s weren’t supposed to care about villains and they especially weren’t supposed to care about hurting them. It’s what his father always used to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s why he…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey your royalness, stop thinking so hard. I can smell the smoke,” Kuroo said, pulling up a chair and the medkit. Oikawa laughed, regretting it instantly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Gotta keep my mind off your awful stitching skills somehow,” he breathlessly replied. Clicking his tongue, Kuroo set to wiping the blood off his skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then tell me what was in the email last night.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa’s breath caught, the question expected yet so unwelcome. Leave it to the alley cat to figure out his mood changed after reading his grandmother’s message. What a pain. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then again, he supposed he’d let his thoughts get the better of him too many times for Kuroo to not pay attention to his shifts in moods. Especially since he had the unfortunate tendency to put himself in….risky situations when his thoughts were too much. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, couldn’t he just put the email in a box of other thoughts he wouldn’t deal with?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you don’t tell me, I’ll bring your phone to Kenma tonight. Your choice,” Kuroo said, pulling the blood-soaked cloth away and replacing it with another to help slow the bleeding. Oikawa bit back a yelp as he sat up on his elbows.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Damnit Anzen and dammit Kuroo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine,” he hissed, “she sent the holiday charity-” the door to the bathroom swung open, cutting him off. Ushijima and Daichi peered around the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Both groups stared at the other incredulously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa really hoped Kuroo pushed his gear under the bed. More importantly, he needed a reason for the highly visible injury. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I felt someone in pain, are you two ok-....what is that?” Daichi said, stepping out from behind the door, his eyes widening when he saw the bloodied cloth. Kuroo’s panicked gaze told Oikawa that he would be no use in getting out of this mess. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His own brain had a delightfully unhelpful fog blanketing it. Nothing good could come from any of his current ideas so he said the first one that came to mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kuroo likes using his claws during se-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck, Oikawa!?” Kuroo shouted, slapping a hand over his mouth. Oikawa shook off the gag, grinning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Aww kitty, don't be ashamed of your kin-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"If you say one more word I will stab you again," Kuroo hissed, his face redder than a tomato. Oikawa's laughter turned into a groan and his head fell back as he squeezed his eyes shut. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The science nerd always got so flustered talking about those things in front of others. Shame all the pain took away from his enjoyment of the alley cat's embarrassment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Though maybe he should have thought out his excuse more. Did they even know Kuroo had claws?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was...an accident. Can you help me out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another pair of hands joined Kuroo's in pressing against his lower left side and Oikawa opened his eyes to see Daichi standing over him, staring intently at his injury. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No one should be capable of looking so profoundly disappointed. Oikawa shivered, his amusement fading.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You got lucky, I don't think it hit any organs. Are you hurt anywhere else?" Daichi asked and Oikawa shook his head. If he did, he couldn't feel it over the burning in his side. Nodding, Daichi took the needle and thread from Kuroo's hands and sat down in the chair next to the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you two have any pain meds?" he asked, removing the cloth over the wound. Kuroo glanced between them and Oikawa could only shrug. This wasn't what he expected when the pair entered his room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Uh...I have alcohol?" Kuroo said, stepping over to the spare dresser.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Is that legal?" Daichi asked, turning his disapproving stare on Kuroo. The alley-cat rubbed his neck and Oikawa could practically see the various responses and scenarios running through his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No?" he replied, more of a question than an answer, while shifting nervously and if Oikawa wasn't so worried about the disappointed look being turned on him again he would've laughed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can make some tea," Ushijima offered from the doorway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, Wakatoshi. Kuroo, bring the alcohol over. Next time I go to a store I'll buy you two pain killers. Now, Oikawa, do you feel comfortable letting me stitch you up?" He turned back to look at Oikawa, his expression nothing but kind and radiating a calmness one couldn't help but trust.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Daichi wanted to be a vet, right? Stitching up people couldn't be that different from stitching up animals and he seemed confident enough. Honestly, it's not like he could be worse than Kuroo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do your worst, doc," Oikawa sighed. He had a high pain tolerance if this went poorly. An open bottle of sake passed into his hand and he brought it to his lips, ready to drink enough to make the next bit as hazy as possible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Absolutely not." Daichi grabbed the bottle and pulled it down. "You do not need to thin out your blood and bleed more. If you want any of this I need you to consent to me using my ability on you." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His ability? Oikawa's foggy head tried to sift through the meaning behind his words, but the pain kept distracting him. He's an empath so he can feel emotions, how was that useful?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Being drunk is more physiological than emotional, but if you have a bit of alcohol in your system I can amplify its mental effects enough to make this more bearable," Daichi said, his face turning a bit red when Oikawa stared at him. Oh right, he could also manipulate feelings. "Sorry. I, uh, felt you getting confused, so I…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're telling me, you can make me feel drunk and I don't have to deal with a hangover tomorrow?" Oikawa asked, blinking owlishly up at the saint that is Daichi.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Essentially. I'll explain more later but this needs to be stitched up or you'll have to go to a hospital for blood loss. So, do I have your consent?" Daichi released his hold on the sake. Never breaking eye contact, Oikawa brought the bottle back up to his lips and took a large swig of the liquid, shivering at its far more pleasant burn. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"As I said doc, do your worst," he said, handing the bottle back to the still hovering Kuroo before flopping down with a groan. The blood loss made the alcohol's effects more immediate, the soothing warmth intermingling with the painful heat, both mind-numbing in their own way. A heaviness settled in, his own skin feeling like a weighted blanket as numbness washed over him. The alcoholic warmth overtook his wound’s searing heat, dulling it into something still painful, but far more manageable. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It felt like five shots hit him all at once and Oikawa could do nothing but dazedly stare up at the white ceiling. He’d actually downed maybe half a shot. This is a party trick he and Daichi would be discussing more later. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For now, the good doctor focused solely on patching him up, the tug of the needle and thread barely noticeable. Oikawa could get used to this kind of medical treatment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Time flowed strangely, his head too foggy to grasp if mere minutes or whole hours passed while he lay there. All the adrenaline of the night finally faded, leaving only exhaustion in its place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At some point, the white ceiling slipped away and Oikawa found himself floating among the night sky. Everything was warm and heavy and dark. There was no pain. Why would there be? The dark was safe because it belonged in Iwa-chan’s domain. It’d been so long since he’d experienced Iwa-chan’s safety. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why was that?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t know how long he floated there, just enjoying the warmth and comfort, but from somewhere far below him the sound of a distant cheer rose. It broke the calming silence of the night sky and the cheers, which should be a happy sound, rattled in his head like a set of unlucky dice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ruckus pierced into him and dragged him down, away from the warmth and away from the safety of Iwa-chan’s dark sky. He plummeted through the windless abyss, the cheers turning into jeers and laughter determined to sink their claws into him. Oikawa tried to grab his hair, his skin, anything so he could dig in his nails and bring about some small ounce of clarity. Only his shuttered eyelids moved, flicking open.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stood on a rooftop and Anzen was there, his back turned to Oikawa. In front of Anzen lay Kaze, his mask discarded to the side, a highly confusing sight given that they were the same person.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The image was further complicated because Kaze (the other Oikawa?) appeared to be dead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cheers came from an onlooking public, their derisive sounds changing to excited applause when Anzen looked up and waved to them. Blood still dripped off his gloved hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa tried to take a step back. This didn’t seem right. Anzen never aimed to kill him before, so why did he…?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Come on Hero, hurting people is all you’re good at.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His own words stabbed into him and Oikawa stumbled away. Oh...right. Anzen did this because Oikawa taunted him until his resolve snapped. Hadn’t he found Anzen for the sole purpose of breaking him? After all, ruining heroes is all he ever did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that didn’t mean Oikawa wanted him to do this. Why hadn’t Anzen been able to stay the good hero he seemed to try so hard to be? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he broke even someone as stoic as Anzen then did that mean he could also break the only truly good and safe hero in his life? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa would rather die, no he’d rather go home, than break Iwa-chan’s righteous spirit like he’d done Anzen's tonight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Is that what you tell yourself every morning? That you had to or didn’t mean to hurt them? Tell that to your friends and family to justify what you do to them?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those damning words burned in his head. He didn’t mean them. Well no, actually he did, it’s just, he didn’t intend for them to mean anything to Anzen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He meant them for…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is he okay?” Iwa-chan’s voice drifted pleasantly past his ear, soothing in how rough it sounded. Oikawa’s rapidly beating heart skipped and he let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding in. A fully grown Iwa-chan stood at his side, genuine worry etched over his usually stern expression. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa wanted to tell him to turn away, to not look at the scene in front of them. He didn’t care if Iwa-chan saw his maskless corpse, he could deal with the other hating him for being a villain. No, he didn't want Iwa-chan to see Anzen and the un-heroic actions Oikawa pushed him to. If he could shield him from one thing, it'd be the monster ready to destroy anything good that lurked within Oikawa.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Any words he could say were drowned out by the crowd as Anzen turned around. Only it wasn’t really Anzen, his body shifting into the star of Oikawa’s every nightmare and making his blood run cold. His father stared down at him, blood splattered across his iconic chest symbol. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iwa-chan stepped in front of him and Oikawa reached out to shove him away. A different hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning around, Oikawa's eyes met the familiar knowing look of Kuroo. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, wake up, it’s just a bad dream,” he whispered into Oikawa’s ear while shaking him. Blinking, Oikawa tried to look back at the rooftop scene but everyone had disappeared. Darkness crept at the edges of his vision, cold and harsh, so different from Iwa-chan’s warm safety.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And once again, Oikawa fell, only this time he had Kuroo’s strong grip on his shoulder to anchor him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, he’s waking up,” Kuroo called out to someone as Oikawa blinked open his eyes with a groan. Beside him, people shuffled closer, three large shadows looming over him. Oikawa tilted his head to the side, letting his hazy brain work out who exactly was there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do you feel?” Daichi asked, pulling up the blanket covering him. Sluggishly following his gaze, Oikawa saw his lower torso had been wrapped in clean, white bandages. A mild sting radiated from his left side, a reminder of the events before his unexpected nap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It hurt less than he expected it to. Kuroo’s stitches always ached for hours after they were done. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How long was I asleep?” Oikawa asked, trying to shake off the last tendrils of his strange dream. Hollow cheers still echoed in his ears, the cold abyss of his thoughts clinging to the last wisps of sleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He absolutely refused to acknowledge any of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why deal with something you could ignore?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“About an hour. Iwaizumi stopped by a few minutes ago,” Daichi said. Eyes flying open, Oikawa sat up, wincing when the sudden movement pulled at the stitches. Kuroo caught his shoulders while Daichi placed a steadying hand against the bandages. A warm cup of fragrant tea pressed into his hands, Ushijima standing upright once he was sure Oikawa wouldn't drop it. The soothing smell of lavender did little to calm his racing mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iwaizumi stopped by? Did he see him passed out? Did he question what happened to him? What did they tell him if he had? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iwaizumi couldn’t know the truth or else he would have too many questions that Oikawa didn't want to answer.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, he looked awful too. Apparently, he’s been out searching for you for hours.” Kuroo let go of his shoulders and stood up, crossing his arms. Why was Iwaizumi outside looking for him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, right, the note. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa grimaced. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t mean for him to go wandering the streets alone at night. It's dangerous! What if he’d run into a villain? Sure, he had an advantage at night and he was built like a greek god but-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I still do not understand why we did not tell him what's wrong with Oikawa. Kuroo said it was an accident.” Ushijima picked up two mugs from the desk and handed one to Daichi. The shorter man smiled and patted his arm, sipping his tea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pft, it's cause I don’t want him to hate me. Besides, we’re planning on keeping everything that happened tonight between the four of us, right? I really don't want to explain this situation to other people,” Kuroo grinned tightly, and Oikawa saw his sharp eyes catalog every reaction Ushijima and Daichi had to his request. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was glad Kuroo had enough mental capacity to try clearing up this mess he'd gotten them into. The skilled stitch work and Daichi’s useful ability would be a small consolation prize if the two started spreading rumors or trying to dig for better answers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But Iwaizumi already dislikes you. Telling him you accidentally cut Oikawa during sex won’t change that,” Ushijima said in the most deadpan manner. It took every ounce of remaining willpower within Oikawa to not burst into laughter. Kuroo, for his part, flushed a deep red. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don't think they want people knowing about that part of their relationship,” Daichi said, taking another sip of tea. His gaze caught Oikawa’s and any amusement from Ushijima’s words vanished. Those normally kind eyes pierced into him, giving off the distinct impression that he knew they were lying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa looked away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, Wakatoshi, we have a bio quiz tomorrow morning and I’d like to get some sleep before then.” Daichi tugged at Ushijima’s wrist, the other man following him without protest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They got to the bathroom door before Daichi paused, Ushijima passing him to go back to their room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa glanced at Kuroo. The alley-cat stood stiffly, his eyes fixed on Daichi. Though his tail was not out, Oikawa knew the expressive limb would be lashing from the tense atmosphere if visible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I promise we won't tell anyone else about tonight," Daichi said and both of them let out an audible sigh of relief. "But-" he bit his lip, "Now I know it's not my place, but do me a favor, Oikawa, and talk to someone about everything you're feeling. Keeping it all bottled up will only make it harder on you and the people around you." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He dipped his head in goodbye then ducked around the door before either of them could respond. Kuroo flopped down into the chair next to the bed when the door clicked closed, his shoulders finally relaxing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"If you ever do this to me again, I swear…” Kuroo sighed. Chucking, Oikawa swung his legs off the bed so he could lean against the wall and took a sip from his mug. Ushijima may still annoy him but damn if he didn’t make the best tea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So I should pencil in another stitch-fest for next week?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The alley cat glared at him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t think I’ve forgotten what we were talking about earlier. We’re not going to sleep until you tell me what possessed you to go out and find Anzen with no armor on and then antagonize him to the point where he stabbed you. Explain it to me because you’ve been doing really well lately, Oikawa, but tonight was…” Kuroo rubbed his hands over his face and tugged at his hair, exhaustion seeming to pull him down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa rarely saw his partner-in-crime in such a state. The alley cat was the logical one between them, always trying to help sort out his confusing emotions with horrible jokes. Seeing him in so much distress and knowing it was all his fault felt like a punch to his already injured gut. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Truthfully, he didn’t want to tell Kuroo why he went out. He’d learned long ago that he just didn’t get it when Oikawa tried to explain how sometimes his thoughts and emotions were too much and nothing he did made them stop. Nothing but the all-consuming bone-deep exhaustion that came from overworking himself or a nice sharp flash of pain. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, Iwaizumi used to able to snap him out of it as well, but the other boy never seemed to know what he was doing, so it wasn’t like Kuroo could ever take his place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the alley cat was one of the only people to understand the reason behind his thoughts spinning out of control, even if he didn’t get Oikawa’s methods in quieting them. With a heavy sigh, Oikawa nudged his leg with his foot and smiled when he looked up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My grandmother emailed me a copy of the winter gala invites last night,” he paused, Kuroo scowling at the mention of his family. Oikawa’s smile widened at the silent support. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Apparently, this year’s theme is 'fallen heroes' and their big charity project is building a statue of Helios to commemorate those who’ve died. They’ll be revealing it to the city on Hero’s Day and yes, I’m required to be at both the gala and the unveiling,” Oikawa slumped further against the wall, letting the position tug uncomfortably at his stitches to help keep the bad thoughts away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yes, because another statue is </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> what people need,” Kuroo spat, his eyes shifting to gold and pupils slitting. It validated him to see the other boy get upset over his grandparents’ plans. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another night, Oikawa might have risen to the sarcastic bait, even reveled in the freedom of bitching about his family's ways with Kuroo. But right now all he wanted to do was walk across the hall and curl up under his twinkle light stars.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After last night with all its anxiety-fueled nightmares and tonight's breakdown and subsequent stabbing, Oikawa felt he deserved some quality beauty rest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you gonna let me go to bed tonight?” He asked, downing the rest of his tea. Kuroo sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You won't go running off again, will you?" Crossing his arms, he stared sternly at Oikawa. Maybe if Daichi hadn’t released his devastatingly powerful parental stare earlier in the night, Kuroo’s look would have more of an effect. As it was, Oikawa simply gasped dramatically, draping a hand over his forehead and gripping his side with the other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can't you see I'm mortally wounded? I will never go anywhere again.” Kuroo rolled his eyes, the irises going back to their dark brown color. The tension in his shoulders seeped out as he snickered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t get my hopes up, I’ll probably be dragging you away from another meet and greet with death in two weeks' time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I may make bad choices but you know I would fight death and win if it tried to do me the dishonor of taking me out in a city of all places. The audacity death would have to even consider ki-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Killing you anywhere except under the most beautiful starry sky the world has ever seen, yeah yeah I know, I thought you wanted me to let you leave this room,” Kuroo snarked, standing up from his chair. Eyes widening, Oikawa jumped off the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m just explaining why you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll do nothing to endanger my life again until this is all healed up.” He pointed to the bandages before covering them up with one of Kuroo’s hoodies. The alley cat snorted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good, I don’t know if your boyfriend could deal with you disappearing again,” he teased.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Boyfriend??? He’s not my-...we’re just friends!” Oikawa spluttered, his face heating up as he backed toward the door. “Besides, since when do you care how Iwa feels? Last I heard you didn’t like him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t. Anyone who has the ability to control the ambient lighting of a room and doesn’t use it to make dramatic entrances cannot be trusted in my book,” he grinned and Oikawa rolled his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What an annoying alley cat. He reached out for the door handle, pausing when Kuroo continued. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But even I’ll admit that he looked awful tonight when he stopped by asking about you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Is he okay?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Iwaizumi’s words from his dream came back to him. His voice had been soothing at the time, but the worry in his tone still seeped through. Not many things could make Iwaizumi anxious enough that not even a dream could filter it all out. Oikawa closed his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d really fucked things up tonight hadn’t he? Stupid head, stupid thoughts, stupid, stupid, stupid…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, I know you’re gonna do whatever you want, but I think Daichi is right. You’ve gotta talk about what’s in that head of yours so we can help you and nights like this don’t happen, okay? And as much as I hate to say it, I think you should start by working things out with Iwaizumi." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa groaned and pulled open the door. Maybe he did mess everything up tonight but that didn't mean talking about it was the solution. Kuroo's heavy sigh meant he knew what Oikawa was thinking. Good. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Letting the door fall closed behind him, Oikawa leaned back and stared across the hall. Iwaizumi was probably in that room, maybe awake, maybe asleep, and not for the first time since reuniting, he feared seeing the other man. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All Oikawa ever seemed to do was break people. No matter what he did his head always conjured something to make him spiral. And when that happened people got hurt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The horrified look on Anzen's face seemed plastered to the back of his eyelids, only now it taunted him by looking scarily similar to Iwaizumi. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It would almost be considered funny, the irony of Iwaizumi always being afraid of hurting people when it was always Oikawa breaking them. </span>
  <span>For a long time, he thought his ability was picking up on people’s weaknesses and exploiting them. But no, the skill was all him, nothing super about it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What if he did what Daichi and Kuroo wanted him to do and he said something he didn’t mean to? Ever since they were kids he protected Iwaizumi from anything that might break his spirit, including himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world needed good people like Iwaizumi, not monsters like Oikawa.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But staying away was so much harder than he’d ever thought it would be. It took everything he had to keep busy through each day so he wouldn’t have the time to go searching for Iwaizumi’s company. When they did things as a group he could only hide beside Kuroo for so long until he inevitably fell in next to Iwaizumi.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And somehow it was when he wasn't around that he'd endangered Iwizumi. Why did he go out looking for him? There were monsters lurking in the streets at night. He could have been hurt or killed or, or anything and it would be Oikawa’s fault. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A sudden fear gripped his heart at the thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oikawa winced when the door hit the wall. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iwaizumi stared at him with wide eyes from his place in bed. He sat cross-legged, body facing Oikawa’s bed like he wanted to keep watch over it until his return. The twinkle lights were on despite the fact that Oikawa knew he turned them off before leaving. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shadows crept over most of the room, only his little lights illuminating Iwaizumi’s body. Really, he didn’t know what Kuroo was going on about. Unfairly hot unkemptness described his visible appearance perfectly. There didn’t even appear to be a scratch on him. Then again, he didn't think it possible for Iwaizumi to look anything less than amazing in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something about seeing Iwaizumi sitting there beneath his artificial stars made him remember the first part of his dream. The nice part where he was safe and warm and he knew everything would be alright because of Iwa-chan’s mere presence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They locked eyes and not even the shadows masking their hypnotizing green could hide that glassy look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes reminded Oikawa of all the nights they’d spent wrapped in each other’s embrace, each helping the other stave off the thoughts that ate away at them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t deserve the warmth, the safety. He’d lost the right to the privilege of Iwaizumi's care long ago. Honestly, he hadn't deserved it then either, not really. But that's what set Iwa-chan apart from everyone else, isn't it? No matter what a person deserved he only ever tried to help them. It's what made him a hero.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And worse than even his skills in tearing down others was Oikawa's ceaseless selfishness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a different, better, state-of-mind maybe he could walk past the green-eyed boy of his dreams and crawl into bed like he was supposed to. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, he stopped in front of Iwaizumi and, without a word of warning, hopped up next to him. Before he could even settle against the wall, strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him into an embrace so familiar it hurt. Iwaizumi placed his forehead against Oikawa’s shoulder, his breaths shuddering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hot tears splashed onto Kuroo’s hoodie, but no sound other than ragged breathing came from the man wrapped around him. No words came to mind, his selfish head too preoccupied with going over his own reasons for needing this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Like it thought it could ever justify this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rather than let his emotions run loose again, he wrapped one arm around Iwaizumi’s back while his other tangled in the spiky black hair that was somehow just as soft as he remembered.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without a doubt in his mind, Oikawa knew he’d regret this in the morning. Nothing good could come from him indulging in his own selfish desire for Iwaizumi’s safety. Getting close to him would only end in disaster, they’d proved it before and Oikawa would be damned if he let them prove it again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But for now, he let Iwaizumi’s warmth wash away the image of Anzen’s horrified expression; and with it all the remaining thoughts tearing away at him. Tomorrow he'd make things right again. Tomorrow he'd rebuild the barriers and regain control of his life. That he promised. Exhaustion dragged his eyelids closed, his head settling against Iwaizumi’s neck, as he breathed in the calming scent. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the first time in years, Oikawa slept soundly through the night.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey everyone! Happy February! </p>
<p>I hope you enjoyed getting to see more of Oikawa's thought process and some of the aftermath from the last chapter. If I had to rate Oikawa's mental stability on a scale of 1-10 I'd probably give him a 3/10 based on what his friends see and a solid -12/10 for the real number. Honestly, I wasn't expecting most of this chapter when I wrote it and it took me a long time to wrestle it into anything that made a lick of sense. I'm still not sure everything is right so don't be surprised if I go back and fix some things.</p>
<p>I'd love to hear what you thought of everything that happened. Any sort of feedback water's my crops and cures my depression for multiple days. So appreciate it greatly!</p>
<p>As always here is the current list of powers as known by Oikawa/Iwaizumi:<br/>Name - Hero/Villain Name - Current Power Identification<br/>Iwaizumi Hajime - Anzen - Umbrakinesis<br/>Oikawa Tooru- Kaze - Aerokinesis<br/>Kuroo Tetsuro- Nebo - Cat-based shapeshifting<br/>Kozume Kenma - Tech - Cyberpathy<br/>Unknown - Snow - Bow and arrow sharpshooting<br/>Oikawa Isao - Helios - Photokinesis<br/>Sawamura Daichi - N/A - Empath<br/>Ushijima Wakatoshi - N/A - Can grow small plants from his palms<br/>Akaashi Keiji - N/A - Can manipulate fallen owl feathers<br/>Bokuto Koutarou- N/A - Can draw people's attention based on his mood<br/>Mizuki Umeko - N/A - Minor Premonition</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You know while I was writing this I thought to myself 'hmm the dialogue is a bit awkward' but then I remembered my freshman year in college when everyone is so awkward. More of the superhero/power aspect of this story will show up in the next few chapters I promise but until then I'd love to hear what you think. I've written very little for Oikawa or Iwaizumi and I want to do them justice, if you have any constructive criticisms please let me know!</p><p>Also, I created a Tumblr for my Haikyuu fics. I'm going to be posting updates for this fic and my other works there. So give me a follow @adavenhaikyuu if you feel like it!</p><p>And if you are looking for another super amazing Haikyuu superhero au you should definitely check out Kono-Rohan-Da's 'Bad Guys Can Be Good Guys'. It's superb and deserves all the love in the world!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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